title: Job strain, work characteristics and back pain: a study in a university hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The demand-control-support "job strain" model is frequently used in occupational health research. We sought to explore the relationship between job strain and back pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  One thousand two hundred and ninety-eight collaborators of a Swiss teaching hospital responded to a cross-sectional questionnaire survey that measured job strain, the occurrence of back pain as well as the characteristics and consequences of this pain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Job strain computed with both psychological and physical demands was strongly and significantly associated with various measures of back pain. These associations displayed a dose-response pattern, and remained strong even after adjustment for job characteristics and professional categories. In contrast, separate dimensions of job strain (except physical demands) and job strain computed with only psychological demands did not remain significantly associated with back pain after adjustment for other variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results support the findings linking back pain to job strain. Moreover, the relationship between back pain and job strain is much stronger if job strain includes both psychological and physical demands. Results of this study suggest that workplace interventions that aim to reduce job strain may help prevent back pain and may alleviate the personal, social, and economic burden attributable to back pain.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Epidemiology, University Hospitals of Geneva and Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland. delphine.courvoisier@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Delphine S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Courvoisier
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Genevay
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cedraschi
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bessire
authors.forename: Anne-Claude
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Griesser-Delacretaz
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monnin
authors.forename: Thomas V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Perneger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires