Article Text
Abstract
Objectives The prevalence of neck/back pain (NBP) is high worldwide. Limited number of studies have investigated workers with occasional NBP regarding the risk of developing long-duration activity limiting NBP (LNBP). The objectives were to assess (1) the effect of poor work ability and sleep disturbances in persons with occasional NBP on the risk of LNBP, and (2) the interaction effect of these exposures.
Design Cohort study based on three subsamples from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort.
Settings The working population in Stockholm County.
Participants Persons aged 18–60 years, reporting occasional NBP the past 6 months at baseline year 2010 (n=16 460).
Measures Work ability was assessed with items from the Work Ability Index, perceived mental and/or physical work ability. Sleep disturbances were self-reported current mild/severe disturbances. The outcome in year 2014 was reporting NBP the previous 6 months, occurring ≥couple of days per week and resulting in decreased work ability/restricted other daily activities. The additive effect of having both poor work ability and sleep disturbances was modelled with a dummy variable, including both exposures. Poisson log-linear regression was used to calculate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% CIs.
Results At follow-up, 9% had developed LNBP. Poor work ability and sleep disturbances were independent risk factors for LNBP; adjusted RR 1.7 (95% CI: 1.4 to 2.0) and 1.4 (95% CI: 1.2 to 1.5), respectively. No additive interaction was observed.
Conclusion Workers with occasional NBP who have poor work ability and/or sleep disturbances are at risk of developing LNBP. Having both conditions does not exceed additive risk.
- epidemiology
- occupational & industrial medicine
- musculoskeletal disorders
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Footnotes
Contributors LWH, TB, ML and ES contributed to the conceptualisation and methodology of the study, which was approved by CM. CM provided the data resources. LWH made the statistical analyses based on a protocol approved by the co-authors. LWH wrote a draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and critically revised the manuscript and finally approved the last version.
Funding The study was funded by AFA- Insurance Grant No 170 095. The funder had no involvement in any of the steps of the manuscript preparation.
Competing interests Drs ES and LWH are scientific consultants at the Scandinavian College of Naprapathic Manual Medicine and members of their Scientific Board.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Ethics approval Ethical approval was obtained from the regional ethical review board in Stockholm (Dnr; 2007/545-31, 2013/497-32 and 2015/1204-32). The questionnaires included information about handling of personal data, and the participants accepted the use of their data by answering to the questionnaires (written informed consent).
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request. Due to ethical restrictions and laws (GDPR) of disclosing personal data, authors have to seek permission to allow us to make the data used in this study available. Data will be available upon request after permission is granted from the Karolinska Institutet’s Ethics Review Board in Stockholm. Inquiries for data access should first be sent to eva.skillgate@ki.se, who will then contact the ethics board for permission to openly share the data.