Risk factors of work-related low back pain in manufacturing workers

Kim, Dae Hwan; Kim, Jung Ho; Shin, Hae Lim; Chun, Jin Ho; Kim, Yong Wan; Lee, Chae Un

Abstract

Work-related low back pain is one of the major factors that cause the loss of working power especially in actively working age, therefore controlling the work-related low back pain is one of the major issues in the field of industrial safety and health. This study was performed for detecting the risk factors and proposing the efficient control program of the work-related low back pain. The subjects were male workers employed at the manufacturing industry in Pusan with longer than 6 month's working duration. The data was collected by self-reported questionnaire and interview from May 1 to October 31, 1992. The contents of questionnaire were as follows : the experience of low back within the recent one month, general characteristics(age, marital status, education level, religion, regular exercise), physical characteristics(height, weight), employment status(working duration, daily working hours, rest during work, satisfaction for the job), type of work and working environments(posture, forward bending, lifting and movement, satisfaction for table and chair). The result was analyzed for 608 entire respondents by case-control comparative method. The number of cases was 152 with a history of work-related low back pain, so the relative frequency of self-reported work-related low back pain was 25.0%, and the number of controls was 344 without any history of low back pain. As a result, two characteristics of the employment status(working duration, satisfaction for the job) and all characteristics of type of work and working environments showed a statistical significance between the case and control groups(p<0.01). The Odds ratios of these variables for Work-related low back pain were calculated. They were 7.88 for the satisfaction for chair, 7.86 for lifting and movement, 3.31 for satisfaction for table, and 2.22 for bending forward(p<0.01). And for the multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that unsatisfaction for table was independent risk factor for Work-related low back pain. In summary, though this study was based upon the self-reported questionnaire and the subjective complaints, the satisfaction for chair, lifting and movement, satisfaction for table, and bending forward concerned with the type of work and working environments were considered as the main factors causing the work-related low back pain, and the work-related low back pain may be preventable by the ergonomic control of these factors.