Prevalence and Work-Related Factors Associated with Lower Back Musculoskeletal Disorders in Female Shellfish Gatherers in Saubara, Bahia-Brazil
by
Maria Carolina Barreto Moreira Couto 1,*
, Ila Rocha Falcão 1, Juliana dos Santos Müller 2, Ivone Batista Alves 1, Wendel da Silva Viana 1, Verônica Maria Cadena Lima 3, Paulo Gilvane Lopes Pena 1, Courtney Georgette Woods 4 and Rita Franco Rego 1
, Ila Rocha Falcão 1, Juliana dos Santos Müller 2, Ivone Batista Alves 1, Wendel da Silva Viana 1, Verônica Maria Cadena Lima 3, Paulo Gilvane Lopes Pena 1, Courtney Georgette Woods 4 and Rita Franco Rego 1
1
Post-Graduate Program in Health, Environment, and Work, School of Medicine, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40026-010, Brazil
2
Department of Technology in Health and Biology, Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Bahia, Salvador 40301-015, Brazil
3
Department of Statistics, Institute of Mathematics and Statistics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-115, Brazil
4
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(5), 857; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050857
Received: 27 January 2019 / Revised: 4 March 2019 / Accepted: 4 March 2019 / Published: 8 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Collection Contemporary and Emerging Issues of Occupational Safety and Health)
Lower back musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are an important public health problem and the leading cause of disability worldwide, but with yet unknown prevalence among shellfish gatherers. To investigate the prevalence and work-related factors associated with lower back MSD in a population of female shellfish gatherers, an epidemiological cross-sectional study was carried out in Saubara, Bahia-Brazil, in 2013. The Brazilian version of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), in addition to a questionnaire containing the physical demands adapted to the artisanal work, were applied to a random sample of 209 female shellfish gatherers. The prevalence of lower back MSD was 72.7%. Using multivariate logistic regression, the shellfish gatherers who had worked for more than 26 years in the activity showed a prevalence of 1.22 (95% CI: 1.04–1.44) times higher compared to those unexposed. Lower back MSD was 1.24 (95% CI: 1.08–1.42) times higher among those more exposed to work sitting with trunk flexion. Those performed manual handling and muscle force with the arms had a prevalence ratio of 1.18 (95% CI: 1.01–1.39). These results show the need for greater awareness of health and social welfare factors impacting workers in small-scale fisheries and will promote the elaboration of health care policies for this occupational class.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Barreto Moreira Couto, M.C.; Rocha Falcão, I.; dos Santos Müller, J.; Batista Alves, I.; da Silva Viana, W.; Maria Cadena Lima, V.; Gilvane Lopes Pena, P.; Georgette Woods, C.; Franco Rego, R. Prevalence and Work-Related Factors Associated with Lower Back Musculoskeletal Disorders in Female Shellfish Gatherers in Saubara, Bahia-Brazil. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 857.
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