title: Epidemiology of musculoskeletal symptoms among Korean hospital nurses.
abstract: We investigated the epidemiology of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) among a complete cross-section of 330 nurses from a large Korean hospital, by means of a questionnaire survey (response rate: 97.9%). The prevalence of MSS at any body site was 93.6%, with symptoms most commonly reported at the shoulder (74.5%), lower back (72.4%), neck (62.7%), lower legs (52.1%) and hand/wrist (46.7%). Logistic regression indicated that nurses who undertook manual handling of patients were 7.2 times as likely to report MSS (OR 7.2, 95%CI 1.2-42.3, P = .0275), while nurses suffering from periodic depression experienced a 3.3-fold MSS risk (OR 3.3, 95%CI 1.3-8.3, P = .0104). Overall, our study suggests that Korean nurses incur a very high MSS burden when compared internationally. A greater commitment is needed to improve physical conditions, occupational tasks and psychosocial work issues among nurses in this country.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hazard Assessment, National Institute of Industrial Health, Kawasaki, Japan. smith@niih.go.jp
authors.forename: Derek R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Myoung-Ae
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Choe
authors.forename: Mi Yang
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Young Ran
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.forename: Gyeong Ju
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Jae Sim
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires