Different working and living conditions and their associations with persistent neck/shoulder or low back disorders

Ola Leijon ^1*, Per Lindberg ², Malin Josephson ³ and Christina Wiktorin ²

¹ Karolinska Institute
² Karolinska Institutet
³ Uppsala University

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ola.leijon{at}sll.se.

Accepted 29 September 2006

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether different combinations of working and living conditions are associated with the risk for persistent neck/shoulder and/or low back disorders. The underlying purpose of this contextual approach was to identify target groups for primary/secondary prevention. Methods: In a baseline study, eleven groups with different working and living conditions were identified by cluster analysis. In the present study, these eleven groups were followed up by a postal questionnaire 5 years after baseline (response rate 82%, n = 1,095). Results: Five of the groups, the onerous human services job, the free agent, the family burden, the mentally stretched and the physically strained groups, had an increased risk for persistent disorders (OR 2.39-2.70). Four of these groups had rather gender specific working and living conditions. Conclusions: The results support the hypothesis that different combinations of working and living conditions may increase the risk for persistent neck/shoulder or low back disorders to different degrees. Gender specific working and living conditions increased the risk for females as well as for males, no matter if the conditions were female specific or male specific.

Keywords: gender, musculoskeletal disorders, primary prevention, secondary prevention

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