Abstract:The Standardized Nordic Questionnaire Applied to Workers Exposed to Hand-Arm Vibration: Orawan KaewBOONCHOO, etal. Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical UniversityThe standardized Nordic questionnaire (SNQ) is not yet widely used in Japan.This paper describes the possibility whether the SNQ, translated into Japanese, can be applied to workers exposed to hand-arm vibration. The musculoskeletal symptoms of 40 chain saw operators (CS) in private forests and 40 agematched bush cleaner operators (BC) in the public service sector were assessed by the SNQ and the Japanese questionnaire (JQ). Both the SNQ and the JQ showed that CS had a higher prevalence of symptoms than BC. By the SNQ, there were significant differences in the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptom in the elbows, upper back and knees. By the JQ, CS had significantly higher prevalence of pain in the shoulders and elbows than BC. These results show the SNQ also fits the musculoskeletal symptoms and clearly differentiates between the prevalences in the two groups. The SNQ enables us to identify the severity, the duration, the treatment and the disability, but does not include items related to finger numbness and finger blanching. For that reason some JQ items should be applied to workers exposed to hand-arm vibration. (J Occup Health 1998; 40: 218-222)
To clarify the incidence of Raynaud's phenomenon among workers exposed to low level hand-arm vibration for a long time, a sample cohort of workers mainly operating a bush cleaner (the vibration level was 2-4 m/s2rms) were followed up for a period of 20 yr. The sample cohort consisted of 331 male workers mainly working at maintaining public roads or afforesting and gardening on a farm. The examination was based on questionnaires used in special medical examinations for vibration syndrome from 1977 to 1996. Raynaud's phenomenon was observed in 11 subjects. The accumulative occurrence rate increased linearly in the case of more than 11 operating years. The mean number of operating years at the occurrence of Raynaud's phenomenon was 11.7 ± 7.1 yr. The mean total operating time at the occurrence of Raynaud's phenomenon was 3,756 h on the geometric average. Stockholm Workshop scale classified 1 subject as Stage 1 (mild), 4 subjects Stage 2 (moderate) and 6 subjects Stage 3 (severe). By the person-year method, the incidence of Raynaud's phenomenon was 4.48 per 1000 person-year. These findings show that the number of operating years for a bush cleaner should be considered to prevent Raynaud's phenomenon, even though the hand-arm vibration level is low.
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