Impact of repetitive manual materials handling and psychosocial work factors on the future prevalence of chronic low-back pain among construction workers.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the influence of manual stone and brick handling and psychosocial work factors on the risk of chronic low-back pain and describes the impact in terms of risk advancement period.


METHODS
The Hamburg Construction Worker Study included a longitudinal study among 488 male construction workers. Adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) of chronic low-back pain (>3 months during the last 12 months) according to self-reported worktasks in the baseline survey were estimated with the Cox proportional hazards model.


RESULTS
The 1-year prevalence of chronic low-back pain was 15.4%. Workers with chronic low-back pain in the baseline survey had a higher risk of such pain during the follow-up (PR4.07,95% CI 2.18-7.59). The prevalence in association with laying large lime sandstones for >2 hours per shift (PR 1.80, 95% CI 1.04-3.14) further increased after adjustment for job category (PR 2.69, 95% CI 1.25-5.78), and it advanced the risk by a risk advancement period of 18 years (95% CI 4-39). Workers with low satisfaction with their work achievements had a higher prevalence of chronic low-back pain (PR 2.07, 95% CI 1.10-3.88). Similar risk estimates were observed in the subgroup without chronic low-back pain in the baseline survey. A strong effect of time pressure wasonly present for these workers (high: P R 6.30,95% CI 1.41-28.21).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that repetitive work involving bent positions and the manual manipulation of heavy stones increases the risk of future chronic low-back pain. For risk communication, the notion that a 40-year-old construction worker laying large sandstones has the same risk as an unexposed 58-year-old construction worker may be more informative.
Latza
Ute
U
Institute for Occupational Medicine, University of Hamburg and Hamburg State Department of Environment and Health, Germany. latza@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Pfahlberg
Annette
A
Gefeller
Olaf
O
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D017770:Lifting / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009790:Occupations; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*