Different working and living conditions and their associations with persistent neck/shoulder and/or low back disorders.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether different combinations of working and living conditions are associated with the risk for persistent neck/shoulder and/or low back disorders. The underlying purpose of this contextual approach was to identify target groups for primary/secondary prevention.


METHODS
In a baseline study, 11 groups with different working and living conditions were identified by cluster analysis. In this study, these 11 groups were followed up by a postal questionnaire 5 years after baseline (response rate 82%, n = 1095).


RESULTS
Five of the groups--the onerous human services job, the free agent, the family burden, the mentally stretched and the physically strained groups--had an increased risk for persistent disorders (OR 2.38-2.70). Four of these groups had rather sex-specific working and living conditions.


CONCLUSIONS
The results support the hypothesis that different combinations of working and living conditions may increase the risk for persistent neck/shoulder and/or low back disorders to different degrees. Sex-specific working and living conditions increased the risk for women as well as for men, irrespective of whether the conditions were specific to women or men.
Leijon
Ola
O
Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. ola.leijon@sll.se
Lindberg
Per
P
Josephson
Malin
M
Wiktorin
Christina
C
D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D010147:Pain Measurement; D005082:Physical Exertion; D011379:Prognosis; D012737:Sex Factors; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control