OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in European countries varies considerably. We analyzed data from the fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) to explore the role of personal, occupational, and social risk factors in determining the national prevalence of musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: Over the course of 2010, 43 816 subjects from 34 countries were interviewed. We analyzed the one-year prevalence of back and neck/upper-limb pain. Individual-level risk factors studied included: sex; age; educational level; socioeconomic status; housework or cooking; gardening and repairs; somatizing tendency; job demand-control; six physical occupational exposures; and occupational group. Data on national socioeconomic variables were obtained from Eurostat and were available for 28 countries. We fitted Poisson regression models with random intercept by country. RESULTS: The main analysis comprised 35 550 workers. Among individual-level risk factors, somatizing tendency was the strongest predictor of the symptoms. Major differences were observed by country with back pain more than twice as common in Portugal (63.8%) than Ireland (25.7%), and prevalence rates of neck/upper-limb pain ranging from 26.6% in Ireland to 67.7% in Finland. Adjustment for individual-level risk factors slightly reduced the large variation in prevalence between countries. For back pain, the rates were more homogenous after adjustment for national socioeconomic variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis indicates substantial variation between European countries in the prevalence of back and neck/upper-limb pain. This variation is unexplained by established individual risk factors. It may be attributable in part to socioeconomic differences between countries, with higher prevalence where there is less risk of poverty or social exclusion.
OBJECTIVES: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in European countries varies considerably. We analyzed data from the fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) to explore the role of personal, occupational, and social risk factors in determining the national prevalence of musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: Over the course of 2010, 43 816 subjects from 34 countries were interviewed. We analyzed the one-year prevalence of back and neck/upper-limb pain. Individual-level risk factors studied included: sex; age; educational level; socioeconomic status; housework or cooking; gardening and repairs; somatizing tendency; job demand-control; six physical occupational exposures; and occupational group. Data on national socioeconomic variables were obtained from Eurostat and were available for 28 countries. We fitted Poisson regression models with random intercept by country. RESULTS: The main analysis comprised 35 550 workers. Among individual-level risk factors, somatizing tendency was the strongest predictor of the symptoms. Major differences were observed by country with back pain more than twice as common in Portugal (63.8%) than Ireland (25.7%), and prevalence rates of neck/upper-limb pain ranging from 26.6% in Ireland to 67.7% in Finland. Adjustment for individual-level risk factors slightly reduced the large variation in prevalence between countries. For back pain, the rates were more homogenous after adjustment for national socioeconomic variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis indicates substantial variation between European countries in the prevalence of back and neck/upper-limb pain. This variation is unexplained by established individual risk factors. It may be attributable in part to socioeconomic differences between countries, with higher prevalence where there is less risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Authors: David Coggon; Georgia Ntani; Keith T Palmer; Vanda E Felli; Raul Harari; Lope H Barrero; Sarah A Felknor; David Gimeno; Anna Cattrell; Consol Serra; Matteo Bonzini; Eleni Solidaki; Eda Merisalu; Rima R Habib; Farideh Sadeghian; M Masood Kadir; Sudath S P Warnakulasuriya; Ko Matsudaira; Busisiwe Nyantumbu; Malcolm R Sim; Helen Harcombe; Ken Cox; Maria H Marziale; Leila M Sarquis; Florencia Harari; Rocio Freire; Natalia Harari; Magda V Monroy; Leonardo A Quintana; Marianela Rojas; Eduardo J Salazar Vega; E Clare Harris; Sergio Vargas-Prada; J Miguel Martinez; George Delclos; Fernando G Benavides; Michele Carugno; Marco M Ferrario; Angela C Pesatori; Leda Chatzi; Panos Bitsios; Manolis Kogevinas; Kristel Oha; Tuuli Sirk; Ali Sadeghian; Roshini J Peiris-John; Nalini Sathiakumar; A Rajitha Wickremasinghe; Noriko Yoshimura; Helen L Kelsall; Victor C W Hoe; Donna M Urquhart; Sarah Derrett; David McBride; Peter Herbison; Andrew Gray Journal: Pain Date: 2013-06 Impact factor: 6.961
Authors: Massimo Bovenzi; Marianne Schust; Gerhard Menzel; Andrea Prodi; Marcella Mauro Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 2014-09-14 Impact factor: 3.015
Authors: Adriana Campos-Fumero; George L Delclos; David I Douphrate; Sarah A Felknor; Sergio Vargas-Prada; Consol Serra; David Coggon; David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras Journal: Occup Environ Med Date: 2016-02-23 Impact factor: 4.402
Authors: Adriana Campos-Fumero; George L Delclos; David I Douphrate; Sarah A Felknor; Sergio Vargas-Prada; Consol Serra; David Coggon; David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras Journal: Inj Prev Date: 2016-09-01 Impact factor: 2.399