title: Work related complaints of neck, shoulder and arm among computer office workers: a cross-sectional evaluation of prevalence and risk factors in a developing country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Complaints of arms, neck and shoulders (CANS) is common among computer office workers. We evaluated an aetiological model with physical/psychosocial risk-factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We invited 2,500 computer office workers for the study. Data on prevalence and risk-factors of CANS were collected by validated Maastricht-Upper-extremity-Questionnaire. Workstations were evaluated by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Visual-Display-Terminal workstation-checklist. Participants' knowledge and awareness was evaluated by a set of expert-validated questions. A binary logistic regression analysis investigated relationships/correlations between risk-factors and symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sample size was 2,210. Mean age 30.8 ± 8.1 years, 50.8% were males. The 1-year prevalence of CANS was 56.9%, commonest region of complaint was forearm/hand (42.6%), followed by neck (36.7%) and shoulder/arm (32.0%). In those with CANS, 22.7% had taken treatment from a health care professional, only in 1.1% seeking medical advice an occupation-related injury had been suspected/diagnosed. In addition 9.3% reported CANS-related absenteeism from work, while 15.4% reported CANS causing disruption of normal activities. A majority of evaluated workstations in all participants (88.4%,) and in those with CANS (91.9%) had OSHA non-compliant workstations. In the binary logistic regression analyses female gender, daily computer usage, incorrect body posture, bad work-habits, work overload, poor social support and poor ergonomic knowledge were associated with CANS and its' severity In a multiple logistic regression analysis controlling for age, gender and duration of occupation, incorrect body posture, bad work-habits and daily computer usage were significant independent predictors of CANS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of work-related CANS among computer office workers in Sri Lanka, a developing, South Asian country is high and comparable to prevalence in developed countries. Work-related physical factors, psychosocial factors and lack of awareness were all important associations of CANS and effective preventive strategies need to address all three areas.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka. priyanga.ranasinghe@gmail.com
authors.forename: Priyanga
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ranasinghe
authors.forename: Yashasvi S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Perera
authors.forename: Dilusha A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lamabadusuriya
authors.forename: Supun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kulatunga
authors.forename: Naveen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jayawardana
authors.forename: Senaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajapakse
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Katulanda
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001134:Arm Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003201:Computers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009816:Office Automation; D011187:Posture; D015995:Prevalence; D011590:Psychology, Industrial; D011594:Psychometrics; D012307:Risk Factors; D020069:Shoulder Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012944:Social Support; D013188:Sri Lanka; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace; D055815:Young Adult