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Work limitations due to neck-shoulder pain and physical work demands in older workers: cross-sectional study

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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Many older workers are working despite having neck-shoulder pain (NSP), which may give rise to work limitations due to pain, especially among those with high physical work demands. This study investigated the joint association of neck-shoulder pain intensity and physical work demands with work limitations among older workers.

Methods

In SeniorWorkingLife, workers ≥ 50 years (n = 11,800) replied to questions about NSP intensity, work limitations due to pain, and physical activity demands at work. The odds ratio for having a higher level of work limitations due to pain in relation to neck-shoulder pain intensity and physical work demands were modeled using logistic regression controlled for various confounders.

Results

The results showed that the neck-shoulder pain intensity was associated with work limitations in a dose–response fashion (p < 0.0001). Importantly, a significant interaction existed between neck-shoulder pain intensity and physical activity at work (p < 0.0001), e.g., 77% of workers with high pain and high work demands experienced work limitations due to the pain.

Conclusion

Higher neck-shoulder pain intensity and higher physical work demands—and particularly in combination—were associated with higher odds of work limitation due to pain among older workers. Thus, it seems especially important to accommodate work demands through a better work environment for these groups of workers.

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Availability of data and material

The authors encourage collaboration and use of the data by other researchers. Data are stored on the server of Statistics Denmark, and researchers interested in using the data for scientific purposes should contact the project leader Prof. Lars L. Andersen, lla@nfa.dk, who is responsible for the study design, questionnaire development, definition of population, and data collection.

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Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the Danish foundation, TrygFonden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sport Sciences and Physical Education, Faculty of Humanities Science, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran

    Mohammad Bayattork

  2. National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Sebastian Venge Skovlund, Emil Sundstrup & Lars Louis Andersen

  3. Sport Sciences, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, 9220, Aalborg, Denmark

    Lars Louis Andersen

Authors
  1. Mohammad Bayattork
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  2. Sebastian Venge Skovlund
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  3. Emil Sundstrup
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  4. Lars Louis Andersen
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Correspondence to Mohammad Bayattork.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

According to Danish law, questionnaire and register-based studies do not need approval by ethical and scientific committees, nor informed consent. All data were de-identified and analyzed anonymously.

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Bayattork, M., Skovlund, S.V., Sundstrup, E. et al. Work limitations due to neck-shoulder pain and physical work demands in older workers: cross-sectional study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 94, 433–440 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01594-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-020-01594-7

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