Six-hundred-seven employees in 3 metal industry plants were studied for depressive and distress symptoms, musculoskeletal symptoms, and findings in the musculo-skeletal system made by a physiotherapist. Measurements were made 3 times at 5-year intervals. The mean distress and depressive symptom scores of the first 2 examinations predicted the change in several musculo-skeletal symptom measures during the second 5-year period, when the effects of age and occupational class were accounted for in multiple regression analysis. They also predicted the development in clinical musculoskeletal findings in men. The proportions of variance explained by the depressive and distress symptoms were modest in magnitude. Analogous analyses were made with reference to the reverse temporal sequence: musculoskeletal disorders were considered as predating the development in depressive and distress symptoms. The musculoskeletal symptom scores were associated with the change in the stress symptoms in men, as did the clinical findings in the neck-shoulder and low back regions. None of the musculoskeletal morbidity scores predicted the change in the depressive symptoms in either sex. We conclude that depressive symptoms predict future musculoskeletal disorders, but not vice versa, whereas the association of stress symptoms and musculoskeletal disorders is reciprocal.
Leino PI, Hanninen V. Psychosocial factors at work in relation to back and limb disorders. Scand J Work Environ Heal th 1995;21:134-42.Objectives This study was a 10-year follow-up of the associations between work content, work control, social relationships at work, mental overstrain, physical work load, and inusculoskeletal morbidity in the neck, shoulder and upper limb region, the low back, and the lower limbs among workers in the metal industry. Methods A sample of 902 blue-and white-collar employees were studied. Measurements were made twice at a 10-year interval by questionnaire and clinical examination. Results At the beginning of the study, mental overstrain showed several associations with both the symptoms and the findings. The other psychosocial factors were the most consistently associated with the symptoms in the region of the neck, shoulder, and upper limbs and also in the lower-limb region among the middle-aged men. Prospectively, the social relations and the work content scores predicted the change in several morbidity scores. The associations were independent of physical work load. C O~~C~U S~O~S Work-related psychosocial factors were associated with, and predicted, the change in the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders when age, gender, social class, and physical work load were controlled for.
The development in the prevalence of back pain, back diseases diagnosed by a physician, and joint pain were studied in Finland during the period 1978/9-1992. The data consisted of annual surveys of representative national samples (n = 5000) of 15-64 year old Finns. The effects of sex, age-group, and study year on the proportions of those with a disorder were studied by logistic regression analyses. All prevalences increased with age. Symptoms were more common among women. The prevalence rates of the symptoms remained stationary through the time period. There were further no systematic changes in the prevalence of diagnosed back diseases. The lower prevalence levels from the year 1985 onwards were probably because of a change in the questionnaire layout, and the two periods were modelled separately. Possible reasons for the discrepancy between the present results and those from previous surveys in Finland are discussed.
Study objective-This study aimed firstly to describe the development of cause-specific mortality in forestry workers, farmer/ forestry workers, and skilled and semiskilled construction workers between 1970 and 1985 in Finland, and to compare this with mortality in the total working male population. The second aim was to evaluate how well the cause-specific mortality differences between the occupations could be explained by differences in socioeconomic status, marital status, or in the region of residence. Design and setting-This is a follow up study based on the 1970, 1975, and 1980
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