title: Persistent of Neck/Shoulder Pain among Computer Office Workers with Specific Attention to Pain Expectation, Somatization Tendency, and Beliefs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neck and shoulder pains are the prevalent complaints among computer office workers. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of somatization tendency, expectation of pain, mental health and beliefs about causation of pain with persistence of neck/shoulder pains among computer office workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This research is a kind of prospective cohort study with 1-year follow-up. It has done among all eligible computer office workers of Shahroud universities (n = 182) in 2008-2009 and 1-year later. Data were collected using the Cultural and Psychosocial Influences on Disability questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the data through SPSS (P < 0.05).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the baseline 100 (54.9%) of participants reported neck/shoulder pains and at follow-up 34.3% of them reported persistence pains. Significant relationships were found between persistence of neck/shoulder pains and negative expectation about pain in next 1-year P = 0.002, (odds ratio [OR] =8.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.1-32.9) and somatization tendency P = 0.01, (OR = 6.5, 95% CI: 1.6-27.4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pain expectation and somatization tendency recognized as associated risk factors of persistent neck/shoulder pain among computer operators. This confirmed some other similar studies on work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Europe countries in recent years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Health, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sadeghian
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran ; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raei
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services Management, Faculty of Health, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amiri
keywords: Beliefs; computer office workers; neck pain; shoulder pains; somatization tendency