Musculoskeletal disorders and skin disease among workers in a Japanese CD manufacturing plant.
We investigated the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and skin disease within a Japanese compact disk (CD) manufacturing plant. For this study, a stratified cross-section of workers completed self-reported questionnaires distributed over a 6-month time period. Low back pain (LBP) was the most commonly reported category (affecting 20.1%), followed by MSD of the shoulder (15.4%), neck (10.1%) and head (5.4%). Dermatitis was the most frequent skin disease (affecting 8.1%), followed by eczema (3.4%), acne (3.4%) and xerosis (2.7%). The odds of suffering neck MSD was 10.8 times higher among staff who sat in a chair all day (95% CI 1.8-112.8, P < 0.05). Standing all day was also a risk factor for this condition (OR 8.2, 95% CI 1.2-81.7, P < 0.05). Female gender increased the risk of shoulder MSD 4.3 fold (95% CI 1.4-13.7, P < 0.05), as did alcohol consumption (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.1-11.9, P < 0.05). The odds of suffering any skin disease were significantly enhanced by working longer than 12 months in one's current job (OR 10.7, 95% CI 1.5-7.3, P < 0.05) and having a history of atopic disease (OR 7.2, 95% CI 2.6-21.4, P < 0.001). Overall, the staff within our study reported generally lower levels of MSD and skin disease than in previous investigations of other workplaces.
Smith
Derek Richard
DR
Department of Health Sciences, Yamanashi Medical University, Tamaho, Nakakoma, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan.
Takeda
Yasuhisa
Y
Mizutani
Takashi
T
Yamagata
Zentaro
Z
D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology; D016272:Occupational Health; D009790:Occupations; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000209:etiology; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*