Ann Occup Environ Med.  2019 ;31(1):1. 10.1186/s40557-019-0281-0.

Evaluation of the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms, presumptive diagnosis, medical care use, and sick leave among female school meal service workers

• Moon YH
• Yang YJ
• Do SY
• Kim JY
• Lee CG
• Chae HJ
• Kim SH
• Song HS

• KMID: 2466037
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1186/s40557-019-0281-0

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Most of the school meal service workers in Korea are middle-aged individuals. They have high workload, which increases their incidence of musculoskeletal disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of subjective musculoskeletal symptoms, presumptive diagnosis, medical care use, and sick leave among female school meal workers.
METHODS
We analyzed the results of musculoskeletal disease screening of 1581 female school meal workers. The screening consisted of self-administered questionnaire, history taking by occupational physicians, and physical examination. The prevalence of subjective musculoskeletal symptoms, presumptive diagnosis after initial examination by occupational physicians, use of medical care for more than 7"‰days, and sick leave due to musculoskeletal diseases during the past year were evaluated in this study. The relative risk of four outcome indicators of musculoskeletal disorders was compared with respect to potential factors, such as age, subjective physical loading, present illness, injury experience, and type of school, using log-binomial regression.
RESULTS
The prevalence of subjective musculoskeletal symptom was 79.6%; presumptive diagnosis, 47.6%; hospital visits over 7"‰days, 36.4%; and sick leave, 7.3%. The relative risk of musculoskeletal symptoms by age (≥50"‰years vs <"‰50"‰years) was 1.04 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00-1.09); presumptive diagnosis of musculoskeletal disease, 1.17 (95% CI: 1.06-1.30); hospital visits over 7"‰days, 1.26 (95% CI: 0.85-1.85); and sick leave, 1.17 (95% CI: 1.02-1.34). The relative risk of musculoskeletal symptoms due to subjective physical loading (very hard vs low) was 1.45 (95% CI: 1.33-1.58); presumptive diagnosis, 2.92 (95% CI: 2.25); hospital visits over 7"‰days, 1.91 (95% CI: 1.02-3.59); and sick leave, 2.11 (95% CI: 1.63-2.74).
CONCLUSIONS
Subjective physical loading was a more important factor in musculoskeletal disorders than the age of female school meal workers.

Keyword

School meal; Female; Musculoskeletal diseases

MeSH Terms

Diagnosis*
Female*
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Mass Screening
Meals*
Musculoskeletal Diseases
Physical Examination
Prevalence*
Risk Factors
Sick Leave*