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Original research
Surgery for trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis in relation to cumulative occupational hand force requirements: a Danish nationwide cohort study
  1. Lone Kirkeby1,2,
  2. Susanne Wulff Svendsen3,4,5,
  3. Torben Bæk Hansen1,2,
  4. Poul Frost3,6
  1. 1 University Clinic of Hand, Hip and Knee Surgery, Regional Hospital West Jutland, Holstebro, Denmark
  2. 2 Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus N, Denmark
  3. 3 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  4. 4 Department of Public Health, Section of Environmental Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  5. 5 Danish Ramazzini Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, Regional Hospital West Jutland - University Research Clinic, Herning, Denmark
  6. 6 Danish Ramazzini Centre, Department of Occupational Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
  1. Correspondence to Dr Lone Kirkeby, University Clinic of Hand, Hip and Knee Surgery, Regional Hospital West Jutland, Holstebro 7500, Denmark; lonekirk{at}rm.dk

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate if higher cumulative occupational hand force requirements are associated with higher risks of surgery for trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis and with surgery earlier in life.

Methods The study was based on Danish national registers. Among all persons born in Denmark 1931 to 1990, we included those who had been employed for at least 5 years since 1991 by the end of 2000, or later when this employment criterion was reached, up until the end of 2016. Cumulative exposure estimates for 10-year time windows (force-years) were assessed by combining individual year-by-year information on occupational codes with an expert based hand-arm job exposure matrix. First-time events of surgery for trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis 2001 to 2017 constituted the outcome. Surgery rates were analysed by a logistic regression technique equivalent to discrete survival analysis using a 1-year lag. We also calculated rate advancement periods.

Results A total of 2 860 448 persons contributed with around 48 million person-years of follow-up, during which 3977 cases appeared (821 among men and 3156 among women). Compared with <5 force-years, the adjusted OR (ORadj) for ≥5 to <10 force-years was 1.39 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.68) and for ≥10 to 30 force-years 1.47 (95% CI 1.26 to 1.71) among men and 1.64 (95% CI 1.50 to 1.78) and 1.29 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.43) among women. The sex combined ORadj were 1.59 (95% CI 1.47 to 1.72) and 1.36 (95% CI 1.25 to 1.48). Among the exposed, surgery was advanced by 3 to 7 years.

Conclusion Medium/high cumulative hand force requirements were associated with elevated hazard rates of surgery for trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis and advanced the time of surgery by several years.

  • musculoskeletal
  • osteoarthritis

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Footnotes

  • Contributors All authors took part in the planning and design of the study. LK, with the help of PF, performed the statistical analyses. LK wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results, revision of the manuscript and final approval of the manuscript. All authors take responsibility for integrity of the work as a whole.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Not required.

  • Ethics approval The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (j.no. 1-16-02-523-16).

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Data availability statement Data from the hand-arm JEM are available upon reasonable request. Data from the Danish national registers are available through online access at Statistics Denmark under standard conditions.