Table 1

Characteristics of subjects at the time of the second survey according to health status at baseline

	‘HEALTHY’ group*		‘PAIN’ group*		‘UL-MSD’ group*
	n	%	n	%	n	%	χ² Test
Gender							0.005
Male	892	69.5	240	18.7	151	11.8
Female	633	63.0	227	22.6	144	14.3
Age							<0.0001
<30 years	317	78.3	75	18.5	13	3.2
30–39 years	485	72.4	126	18.8	59	8.8
40–49 years	465	62.3	163	21.8	118	15.8
≥50 years	258	55.4	103	22.1	105	22.5
Occupational category							<0.0001
Managers	528	71.3	137	18.5	76	10.3
White collar workers	423	69.8	107	17.7	76	12.5
Skilled blue collar workers	367	64.7	122	21.5	78	13.8
Unskilled blue collar workers	204	55.1	101	27.3	65	17.6
Type of company							0.02
Public sector	1185	66.8	376	21.2	212	12.0
Private sector (including agriculture)	336	65.9	91	17.8	83	16.3
Thyroid disorders							0.2
Yes	57	58.2	24	24.5	17	17.3
No	1464	67.1	441	20.2	277	12.7
Diabetes							0.09
Yes	20	55.6	7	19.4	9	25.0
No	1500	66.9	458	20.4	285	12.7
Obesity (BMI≥30)							0.03
Yes	115	61.8	36	19.4	35	18.8
No	1394	67.4	424	20.5	251	12.1

*‘HEALTHY’ group: subjects working at baseline and without pain in upper limbs or clinically diagnosed UL-MSD. ‘PAIN’ group: subjects working at baseline with pain in an upper limb but without clinically diagnosed UL-MSD. ‘UL-MSD’ group: subjects working at baseline with a clinically diagnosed UL-MSD.
BMI, Body Mass Index; UL-MSD, upper limb musculoskeletal disorder.