Original article

Scand J Work Environ Health 1993;19(2):126-131    pdf

https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.1496 | Issue date: 01 Apr 1993

Prevalence of shoulder and upper-limb disorders among workers in the fish-processing industry.

by Chiang HC, Ko YC, Chen SS, Yu HS, Wu TN, Chang PY

A cross-sectional study was conducted among fish-processing workers to evaluate the prevalence of shoulder and upper-limb discomforts and to assess the associated ergonomic risk factors. A prestructured interview, a medical check-up, and job analyses were performed to determine musculoskeletal disorders among 207 workers in eight factories. The results showed shoulder girdle pain (30.9%), epicondylitis (14.5%), and carpal tunnel syndrome (15.0%) as the three most common soft-tissue disorders. The odds ratio of shoulder girdle pain was 1.6 (95% CI 1.1-2.5) among the workers who performed tasks with repetitive movement of their upper limbs, while it was 1.8 (95% CI 1.2-2.5) for the workers who sustained forceful movement of their upper limbs during work. Women taking oral contraceptives had a 2.0 times higher odds ratio for carpal tunnel syndrome than did other women. It would appear that untrained or unskilled workers were prone to suffer from musculoskeletal disorders.

The following article refers to this text: 2014;40(6):610-620