title: Musculoskeletal symptoms among Korean nursing students.
abstract: We investigated the epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Symptoms (MSS) among Korean nursing students using a validated, questionnaire survey. Among 202 students, the prevalence of MSS at any body site ranged from 69.0% to 77.1% (overall rate: 73.3%). MSS was most commonly reported at the shoulder (46.0%), followed by the lower back (39.1%), neck (35.6%), feet (25.2%) and lower legs (23.8%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that students who undertook regular exercise were only half as likely to report an MSS at any body site (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2 - 0.9, P = 0.0350). Increasing body weight was also correlated with a decreased likelihood of MSS (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.002 - 0.9, P = 0.0460). Overall, our study has shown that Korean nursing students report a high prevalence of MSS, when compared to their international counterparts. Their MSS burden is roughly comparable with Korean workers, in a variety of occupations. Further investigations will now be required to elucidate the contributory factors for nursing students' MSS in Korea, as elsewhere.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hazard Assessment, National Institute of Industrial Health, Kawasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Derek R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Myoung-Ae
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Young Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.forename: Jae-Sim
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Mi Yang
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Gyeong Ju
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: An
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001835:Body Weight; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires