Prevalence and incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in secondary industries of 21st century Europe: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Over the course of the twenty-first century, work-related musculoskeletal disorders are still persisting among blue collar workers. At present, no epidemiological overview exists. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed on the epidemiology of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) within Europe's secondary industries. METHODS: Five databases were screened, yielding 34 studies for the qualitative analysis and 17 for the quantitative analysis. Twelve subgroups of WMSDs were obtained for the meta-analysis by means of predefined inclusion criteria: back (overall), upper back, lower back, neck, shoulder, neck/shoulder, elbow, wrist/hand, leg (overall), hip, knee, and ankle/feet. RESULTS: The most prevalent WMSDs were located at the back (overall), shoulder/neck, neck, shoulder, lower back and wrist WMSDs with mean 12-month prevalence values of 60, 54, 51, 50, 47, and 42%, respectively. The food industry was in the majority of subgroups the most prominent researched sector and was frequently associated with high prevalence values of WMSDs. Incidence ratios of upper limb WMSDs ranged between 0.04 and 0.26. Incidence ratios could not be calculated for other anatomical regions due to the lack of sufficient articles. CONCLUSION: WMSDs are still highly present among blue collar workers. Relatively high prevalence values and low incidence ratios indicate a limited onset of WMSDs with however long-term complaints.
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Elbow pain and particularly elbow tendinopathies are highly prevalent, accounting for approximately 20% of work-related MSK conditions, with nearly one million new cases each year in the United States.
“elbow pain (EP) and particularly elbow tendinopathies are highly prevalent, accounting for approximately 20% of work-related MSK conditions [2], with nearly one million new cases each year in the United States (US) [3].”
From Digital Rehabilitation for Elbow Pain Musculoskeletal Conditions: A Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study (2022) · cites this paper as [2]
The Results > Prevalence section reports a mean prevalence of 21% for elbow work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the European industries studied. That is the proportion of workers with an elbow disorder, not the proportion of all work-related musculoskeletal conditions accounted for by elbow pain or tendinopathies. The US annual-case estimate is attached to a different citation and is not assessed here. (LLM, conf=0.90)
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Janela, D., Costa, F., Molinos, M., Moulder, R. G., Lains, J., Bento, V., Scheer, J. K., Yanamadala, V., Cohen, S. P., & Correia, F. D. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19159198 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Within these, elbow pain (EP) and particularly elbow tendinopathies are highly prevalent, accounting for approximately 20% of work-related MSK conditions [2], with nearly one million new cases each year in the United States (US) [3].”
Background
- Authors
- Govaerts, R., Tassignon, B., Ghillebert, J., Serrien, B., De Bock, S., Ampe, T., El Makrini, I., Vanderborght, B., Meeusen, R., & De Pauw, K.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)
- Sciensano (Belgium) (BE)
- ORCID
- Venue
- BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Published
- 2021-08-31
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 751-751
- ISSN
- 1471-2474 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8408961
- OpenAlex
- W3198908453
- Cited by
- 220
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 47 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 7.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Keywords
- work-related musculoskeletal disorders, prevalence, incidence, secondary industry, blue-collar workers, food industry, back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, wrist pain, occupational health, Europe
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Musculoskeletal Diseases, Occupational Diseases, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Incidence, Prevalence
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