A study of the correlation between low back pain and occupational stress in coal miners / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To study the correlation between low back pain (LBP) and occupational stress in coal miners.@*Methods@#From January 2015 to December 2016, a total of 472 front-line workers in a mining area of a large-scale coal mining enterprise in Shanxi, China were enrolled in the study. The general information, condition of LBP, and occupational stress level of the subjects were obtained by questionnaire survey. Dichotomous logistic regression (DLR) was used to analyze the correlation between LBP and occupational stress.@*Results@#Of the 472 subjects, 186 subjects experienced LBP in the past year; the prevalence rate of LBP was 39.41%. The scores of the Occupational Role Questionnaire were significantly higher for workers in the LBP group than in the non-LBP group (P<0.01) . As revealed by the DLR analysis, age, marital status, length of service, occupational stress role, labor intensity, keeping single posture during work, and working in shifts were risk factors of LBP (P<0.01) , while smoking may be a protective factor against LBP (P<0.01) .@*Conclusion@#Occupational stress role is a potential risk factor for LBP in coal miners (P<0.01) . Reasonable work assignment and timely alleviation of occupational stress may be one of the effective approaches to prevent LBP.