[Increase in musculo-skeletal symptoms of upper limbs among women after the introduction of the flow-line in the fish-fillet plants.].
OBJECTIVE
An earlier study of workers in fish-fillet plants in Iceland showed higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms as compared to a random sample of the Icelandic population. Since that study a new manufacturing process, the flow-line, has been introduced. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether this new work situation changed the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among the workers of the fish-fillet plants.


METHODS
The same standardised Nordic Questionnaire was used in both surveys.


RESULTS
The monotony and the repetitiveness of the work increased with the new technique. The results showed that women had higher prevalence of symptoms of the upper limbs when working at the flow-line than before. The Mantel-Haenszel odds ratio for symptoms of elbows, fingers and wrists during the last seven days prior to the study was 2.1 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-4.4), 1.9 (95% CI 1.1-3.2) and 1.7 (95% CI 1.0-2.7). The odds ratio for knees and ankles was less than one.


CONCLUSIONS
The higher prevalence of symptoms of the upper limbs seems to be causally related to the increase of monotonous and repetitive work in the fish industry.
Olafsdóttir
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Administration of occupational safety and health, Bíldshœfða 16, 112 Reykjavík, Iceland. hulda.ol@skynet.be.is.
Rafnsson
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