White finger symptoms: a cross-sectional study.

In a cross-sectional questionnaire study of 2,933 employees of a Swedish aircraft company, the prevalence of white finger (wf) was asked for and then correlated with information on personal and anthropometrical data and on job-related and leisure related activities. The questionnaire return rate was 96%. There were 210 (7%) who reported white finger symptoms. A positive association with age and with work with vibrating hand-tools (polishing and deburring instruments and marking pens) and a negative association with body weight was found. The higher proportion of wf among female workers did not retain statistical significance after consideration of their lesser weight in the multivariate testing. The highest proportion of wf was found among polishers/grinders (23%), sheet-metal workers (19%) and cleaners (15%). We conclude that work with vibrating hand-tools of the type used in this industry probably increases the prevalence of wf and that ways to better insulate tools need to be evaluated.