Associations of back symptoms with occupational exposure to whole body vibration and lifting
| Risk factor | No.* | Low back pain | Sciatica | Troublesome low back pain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | (%) +ve | PR | (95% CI) | No. | (%) +ve | PR | (95% CI) | No. | (%) +ve | PR | (95% CI) | ||
| *A few subjects failed to provide answers to all the questions. | |||||||||||||
| †eVDV, estimated vibration dose value from all occupational sources combined in past week (ms−1.75). | |||||||||||||
| ‡Exposure to WBV reported, but missing information on exposure durations or sources. | |||||||||||||
| Risk estimates were mutually adjusted and adjusted also for age (classified as in table 1), height (in five bands), smoking, frequent headaches, and frequent tiredness or stress. | |||||||||||||
| MEN | |||||||||||||
| Occupational eVDV† | |||||||||||||
| 0 | 1787 | 857 | (48.0) | 1.0 | 234 | (13.2) | 1.0 | 498 | (28.1) | 1.0 | |||
| 0.1–8.5 | 1128 | 611 | (54.2) | 1.1 | (1.0 to 1.2) | 139 | (12.4) | 0.9 | 394 | (35.2) | 1.2 | (1.1 to 1.3) | |
| 8.6–15 | 549 | 332 | (60.5) | 1.1 | (1.0 to 1.2) | 96 | (17.6) | 1.0 | (0.8 to 1.3) | 216 | (39.6) | 1.2 | (1.0 to 1.4) |
| >15 | 93 | 55 | (59.1) | 1.1 | (0.9 to 1.3) | 15 | (16.7) | 1.1 | (0.7 to 1.8) | 31 | (33.3) | 1.1 | (0.8 to 1.4) |
| Missing‡ | 566 | 360 | (63.6) | 1.2 | (1.1 to 1.3) | 85 | (15.0) | 1.0 | (0.8 to1.3) | 199 | (35.6) | 1.2 | (1.0 to 1.3) |
| Lifting weights of ⩾10 kg by hand in an average working day | |||||||||||||
| No | 2100 | 960 | (45.7) | 1.0 | 218 | (10.4) | 1.0 | 554 | (26.6) | 1.0 | |||
| Yes | 2023 | 1255 | (62.0) | 1.3 | (1.3 to 1.4) | 351 | (17.5) | 1.7 | (1.4 to 2.0) | 784 | (39.0) | 1.5 | (1.4 to 1.6) |
| Women | |||||||||||||
| Occupational eVDV† | |||||||||||||
| 0 | 2401 | 1020 | (42.5) | 1.0 | 337 | (14.2) | 1.0 | 619 | (25.9) | 1.0 | |||
| 0.1–8.5 | 418 | 198 | (47.4) | 1.1 | (1.0 to 1.2) | 59 | (14.1) | 1.0 | (0.8 to 1.3) | 119 | (28.5) | 1.1 | (0.9 to 1.3) |
| 8.6–15 | 29 | 21 | (72.4) | 1.6 | (1.2 to 2.0) | 5 | (17.9) | 1.1 | (0.4 to 2.3) | 10 | (35.7) | 1.2 | (0.7 to 2.0) |
| >15 | 1 | 1 | (100.0) | – | 0 | (0.0) | – | 1 | (100.0) | – | |||
| Missing‡ | 102 | 58 | (56.9) | 1.3 | (1.1 to 1.5) | 22 | (21.6) | 1.4 | (0.9 to 2.1) | 35 | (34.3) | 1.3 | (0.9 to 1.7) |
| Lifting weights of ⩾10 kg by hand in an average working day | |||||||||||||
| No | 2303 | 921 | (40.0) | 1.0 | 284 | (12.4) | 1.0 | 536 | (23.3) | 1.0 | |||
| Yes | 648 | 377 | (58.2) | 1.4 | (1.3 to 1.6) | 139 | (21.8) | 1.7 | (1.4 to 2.1) | 248 | (38.5) | 1.7 | (1.5 to 1.9) |