title: Prevalence of fatigue reported by physiotherapists operating diathermy equipment for microwave.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To Analyze the association between prevalence of fatigue referred by physical therapists and their occupational exposure to radiation emitted by therapeutic microwave diathermy equipment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A Cross-sectional study conducted in 193 physical therapists from four cities of the west of Paraná State, Brazil. A specified structured web questionnaire was applied for collecting data about microwave diathermy exposition and potential confounders, plus the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue (MAF). Statistical analysis included logistic regression and Student's t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of fatigue in the category exposed to microwave diathermy was higher (15.0%) than in non-exposed (2.9%). On multivariate logistic regression, a significant independent association between exposure to microwave diathermy and prevalence of fatigue was observed (odds ratio 4.93; 95% confidence interval 1.04 - 23.25; p = 0.04). The Student's t-test showed significant difference between the number of hours exposed to diathermy microwave, being 3,839.1 within physical therapists who referred fatigue and 497.6 within others (p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results demonstrate a significant and independent association between occupational exposure of physical therapists to radiation of microwave diathermy and prevalence of fatigue. Therefore, occupational safety guidelines aimed at these professionals as a prevention of possible adverse effects, as well as the replication of this study are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Marechal Cândido Rondon, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria das Graças
authors.initials: Md
authors.lastname: Anguera
authors.affiliation: Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Reinaldo José
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Gianini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003972:Diathermy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D005221:Fatigue / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008872:Microwaves / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty; D015995:Prevalence