Annual incidence of non-specific low back pain as an occupational disease attributed to whole-body vibration according to the National Dutch Register 2005-2012.
Non-specific low back pain (nLBP) is the second most important reason for sick leave in the Netherlands, and more than 50% of the workers on sick leave attribute these complaints to their work. To stimulate recognition and prevention, an occupational disease (OD) registration-guideline was implemented for the assessment of the work-relatedness of nLBP in the Netherlands in 2005. The aim of this study is to present the annual incidence of nLBP as an OD and specifically for whole-body vibration (WBV) including patient characteristics such as age, sick leave and actions initiated by the occupational physician (OP). The data were retrieved from the National Dutch Register for 2005-2012. Each year about 118 OPs reported 509 cases (SD 139) of nLBP as an OD in a Dutch working population of 7.5 million workers (8% of all annual reported ODs). Less than 1% of these cases were attributed to WBV: 94% were men, 45% were between 51 and 60 years and 35% were on sick leave for more than 2 weeks. Most initiated actions were ergonomic interventions (35%).
The number of notified cases of nLPB as an occupational disease attributed to whole-body vibration is low with less than 1% of all cases in the Netherlands. An explanation is that other work-related risk factors for nLBP such as lifting are more frequently occurring, more visible and have a higher attributable risk than WBV. However, continuing attention for WBV remains warranted given a higher percentage of cases with sick leave of more than 2 weeks.
a Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Coronel Institute of Occupational Health, Academic Medical Center , PO Box 22660, 1100 DD Amsterdam , The Netherlands.
P Paul F M
PP
Kuijer
Henk F
HF
van der Molen
Astrid
A
Schop
Fred
F
Moeijes
Monique H W
MH
Frings-Dresen
Carel T J
CT
Hulshof
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014732:Vibration / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult
incidence; low back pain; occupational disease; prevention; whole-body vibration