Participant characteristics
| Men | Women | |||||||||
| N | % | Mean | SD | Range | N | % | Mean | SD | Range | |
| Demographics and musculoskeletal pain | ||||||||||
| N Participants | 3805 | 46.8 | 4327 | 53.2 | ||||||
| Age | 46.2 | 10.6 | 18–64 | 45.5 | 10.1 | 18–64 | ||||
| Education | ||||||||||
| Basic school 8–10 grade | 469 | 12.3 | 393 | 9.1 | ||||||
| General upper secondary school | 181 | 4.8 | 174 | 4.0 | ||||||
| Vocational upper secondary school | 74 | 1.9 | 109 | 2.5 | ||||||
| Vocational education | 1454 | 38.2 | 1394 | 32.2 | ||||||
| Short-cycle higher education | 294 | 7.7 | 268 | 9.5 | ||||||
| Medium-cycle higher education | 646 | 17.0 | 1315 | 30.4 | ||||||
| Bachelor | 66 | 1.73 | 100 | 2.3 | ||||||
| Long-cycle higher education | 542 | 14.2 | 514 | 11.9 | ||||||
| PhD degree | 48 | 1.3 | 38 | 0.9 | ||||||
| Missing | 13 | 0.8 | 22 | 0.5 | ||||||
| Musculoskeletal pain at baseline | 1.45 | 1.43 | 0–5 | 1.65 | 1.47 | 0–5 | ||||
| Musculoskeletal pain at follow-up | 1.39 | 1.41 | 0–5 | 1.70 | 1.50 | 0–5 | ||||
| Continuous exposures | ||||||||||
| Physical work demands | 18.02 | 7.31 | 8–48 | 17.47 | 6.61 | 8–48 | ||||
| Quantitative demands | 3.08 | 0.68 | 1–5 | 2.93 | 0.68 | 1–5 | ||||
| Emotional demands | 2.76 | 1.02 | 1–5 | 3.27 | 1.04 | 1–5 | ||||
| Decision authority | 4.20 | 0.76 | 1–5 | 4.21 | 0.72 | 1–5 | ||||
| Dichotomous exposures | ||||||||||
| High physical work demands (highest decile) | 345 | 9.1 | 374 | 8.6 | ||||||
| High quantitative demands (highest decile) | 438 | 11.5 | 603 | 13.9 | ||||||
| High emotional demands (highest decile) | 282 | 7.4 | 192 | 4.4 | ||||||
| Low decision authority (lowest decile) | 187 | 4.9 | 160 | 3.7 | ||||||
| Job strain | 909 | 23.9 | 503 | 11.6 | ||||||
| High job insecurity | 402 | 10.6 | 503 | 11.6 | ||||||
| Violence | 118 | 3.1 | 341 | 7.9 | ||||||