Incidence of low back pain and potential risk factors among pharmacists

Abstract

Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common symptoms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in pharmacists. This can impede the physical functions of the body and lead to incapacitation, resulting in significant social and economic burden. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and risk factors that correlate with LBP in Taiwanese pharmacists. A retrospective cohort study was conducted among all registered pharmacists aged 20 to 40 years using the National Health Insurance Research Database (2000–2013) in Taiwan. The LBP diagnosis was confirmed with one episode of hospitalization or at least three claimed outpatient visits for LBP. Data on workplace characteristics as well as comorbidities were also collected for the analyses. A Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the risk factors for LBP. The incidence rate of LBP among pharmacists was 16.60% in this study. Older pharmacists (28.49%; P < .01) and those who worked at district hospitals (23.51%; P < .01) showed a higher proportion of LBP. Furthermore, after adjustment for selected potential confounding factors, female pharmacists [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 1.12, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.01–1.24, P = .0354] and pharmacists with diabetes (aHR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.20–2.01; P = .0008) and gout (aHR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.37–2.09; P < .0001) had significantly higher risks of LBP. In conclusion, age was positively correlated with LBP, and the workplace was an important factor in the development of LBP in pharmacists. We suggest that pharmacists who work in district hospitals should pay more attention to the development of LBP.

Prevalence of Chronic Back Pain among Health Workers at Bashir Teaching Hospital - 2022

“…The reported percentage goes in line with many studies conducted in different countries. This nding is attributed to similarity of work setting and health delivery system [7][8][9]. However, many other studies reported higher incidence of chronic pain [10][11][12].…”

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Health Professionals: Review of the Prevalence, Complications, Predisposing Factor, Related Output Performance and Management

“…Additionally, standing in a position for long durations is a long-term challenge to the functions of the body. It has been reported that low back pain (LBP) is one of the major symptoms of MSDs in pharmacists (37), and the incidence rate was 16.60%. Furthermore, in older pharmacists (28.49%; P < .01) and those who worked at district hospitals (23.51%; P < .01) revealed higher proportion of LBP.…”

Data Matrix Based Low Cost Autonomous Detection of Medicine Packages

“…To prioritize some medicine packages, criteria such as their medical significance or cost might be applied. Moreover, the aforementioned action is monotonous, tedious, frequent and highly repetitive, due to the recurrent lifting and transferring of packages, and repeated hand/wrist motions to place the scan in the correct position and press the button to detect the Data Matrix code [24]. The addressed cases are common physical work-related risk factors that can cause upper limb musculoskeletal disorders to the operator [25], and therefore should be avoided.…”