Associations of sickness absence for pain in the low back, neck and shoulders with wider propensity to pain.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the association of sickness absence ascribed to pain at specific anatomical sites with wider propensity to musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: As part of the CUPID (Cultural and Psychosocial Influences on Disability) study, potential risk factors for sickness absence from musculoskeletal pain were determined for 11 922 participants from 45 occupational groups in 18 countries. After approximately 14 months, 9119 (78%) provided follow-up information about sickness in the past month because of musculoskeletal pain, including 8610 who were still in the same job. Associations with absence for pain at specific anatomical sites were assessed by logistic regression and summarised by ORs with 95% CIs. RESULTS: 861 participants (10%) reported absence from work because of musculoskeletal pain during the month before follow-up. After allowance for potential confounders, risk of absence ascribed entirely to low back pain (n=235) increased with the number of anatomical sites other than low back that had been reported as painful in the year before baseline (ORs 1.6 to 1.7 for ≥4 vs 0 painful sites). Similarly, associations with wider propensity to pain were observed for absence attributed entirely to pain in the neck (ORs up to 2.0) and shoulders (ORs up to 3.4). CONCLUSIONS: Sickness absence for pain at specific anatomical sites is importantly associated with wider propensity to pain, the determinants of which extend beyond established risk factors such as somatising tendency and low mood. Better understanding of why some individuals are generally more prone to musculoskeletal pain might point to useful opportunities for prevention.

Whole-body vibration and back pain-related work absence among heavy equipment vehicle mining operators.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between several whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure estimates and back pain-related work absence. METHODS: Exposures (based on the weighted daily root mean square acceleration, A(8); the daily vibration dose value, VDV(8); and the daily equivalent static compression dose, Sed(8)) of 2302 workers during 4 years were estimated using each worker's monthly vehicle operation records and WBV measurements from 11 different types of heavy equipment vehicles in a large coal mine. Company payroll data provided work absence during the concurrent 4 years of exposure. Cox regression models estimated the associations between the different WBV metrics and time to first work absence related to back pain. An adjusted R2 statistic provided a measure of model fit. RESULTS: All estimated metrics of WBV exposures were positively and significantly associated with back pain-related absence. HRs varied from 2.03 to 12.39 for every 0.21 m/s2 increase in the A(8)-based exposures; from 1.03 to 1.18 for every 1.72 m/s1.75 increase in VDV(8)-based exposures; and from 1.04 to 1.07 for every 0.06 MPa increase in Sed(8)-based exposures. Models using the estimated VDV(8) metric for the z axis fit the data best as measured by the R2 statistic. CONCLUSION: Higher WBV exposures were associated with back pain-related absences in this population, which appears after a few years of follow-up. Introducing controls to lower exposure levels may help reduce back pain-related work absences.

Determinants of international variation in the prevalence of disabling wrist and hand pain.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has indicated that wide international variation in the prevalence of disabling low back pain among working populations is largely driven by factors predisposing to musculoskeletal pain more generally. This paper explores whether the same applies to disabling wrist/hand pain (WHP). METHODS: Using data from the Cultural and Psychosocial Influences on Disability (CUPID) study, we focused on workers from 45 occupational groups (office workers, nurses and other workers) in 18 countries. Among 11,740 participants who completed a baseline questionnaire about musculoskeletal pain and potential risk factors, 9082 (77%) answered a further questionnaire after a mean interval of 14 months, including 1373 (15%) who reported disabling WHP in the month before follow-up. Poisson regression was used to assess associations of this outcome with baseline risk factors, including the number of anatomical sites other than wrist/hand that had been painful in the 12 months before baseline (taken as an index of general propensity to pain). RESULTS: After allowance for other risk factors, the strongest associations were with general pain propensity (prevalence rate ratio for an index ≥6 vs. 0: 3.6, 95% confidence interval 2.9-4.4), and risk rose progressively as the index increased. The population attributable fraction for a pain propensity index > 0 was 49.4%. The prevalence of disabling WHP by occupational group ranged from 0.3 to 36.2%, and correlated strongly with mean pain propensity index (correlation coefficient 0.86). CONCLUSION: Strategies to prevent disability from WHP among working populations should explore ways of reducing general propensity to pain, as well as improving the ergonomics of occupational tasks.

Burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990-2013: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

OBJECTIVES: We used findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 to report the burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). METHODS: The burden of musculoskeletal disorders was calculated for the EMR's 22 countries between 1990 and 2013. A systematic analysis was performed on mortality and morbidity data to estimate prevalence, death, years of live lost, years lived with disability and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). RESULTS: For musculoskeletal disorders, the crude DALYs rate per 100 000 increased from 1297.1 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 924.3-1703.4) in 1990 to 1606.0 (95% UI 1141.2-2130.4) in 2013. During 1990-2013, the total DALYs of musculoskeletal disorders increased by 105.2% in the EMR compared with a 58.0% increase in the rest of the world. The burden of musculoskeletal disorders as a proportion of total DALYs increased from 2.4% (95% UI 1.7-3.0) in 1990 to 4.7% (95% UI 3.6-5.8) in 2013. The range of point prevalence (per 1000) among the EMR countries was 28.2-136.0 for low back pain, 27.3-49.7 for neck pain, 9.7-37.3 for osteoarthritis (OA), 0.6-2.2 for rheumatoid arthritis and 0.1-0.8 for gout. Low back pain and neck pain had the highest burden in EMR countries. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows a high burden of musculoskeletal disorders, with a faster increase in EMR compared with the rest of the world. The reasons for this faster increase need to be explored. Our findings call for incorporating prevention and control programmes that should include improving health data, addressing risk factors, providing evidence-based care and community programmes to increase awareness.

The global burden of injury: incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years and time trends from the Global Burden of Disease study 2013.

BACKGROUND: The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), Injuries, and Risk Factors study used the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) to quantify the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors. This paper provides an overview of injury estimates from the 2013 update of GBD, with detailed information on incidence, mortality, DALYs and rates of change from 1990 to 2013 for 26 causes of injury, globally, by region and by country. METHODS: Injury mortality was estimated using the extensive GBD mortality database, corrections for ill-defined cause of death and the cause of death ensemble modelling tool. Morbidity estimation was based on inpatient and outpatient data sets, 26 cause-of-injury and 47 nature-of-injury categories, and seven follow-up studies with patient-reported long-term outcome measures. RESULTS: In 2013, 973 million (uncertainty interval (UI) 942 to 993) people sustained injuries that warranted some type of healthcare and 4.8 million (UI 4.5 to 5.1) people died from injuries. Between 1990 and 2013 the global age-standardised injury DALY rate decreased by 31% (UI 26% to 35%). The rate of decline in DALY rates was significant for 22 cause-of-injury categories, including all the major injuries. CONCLUSIONS: Injuries continue to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed and developing world. The decline in rates for almost all injuries is so prominent that it warrants a general statement that the world is becoming a safer place to live in. However, the patterns vary widely by cause, age, sex, region and time and there are still large improvements that need to be made.

Years lived with disability (YLDs) for 1160 sequelae of 289 diseases and injuries 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

BACKGROUND: Non-fatal health outcomes from diseases and injuries are a crucial consideration in the promotion and monitoring of individual and population health. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies done in 1990 and 2000 have been the only studies to quantify non-fatal health outcomes across an exhaustive set of disorders at the global and regional level. Neither effort quantified uncertainty in prevalence or years lived with disability (YLDs). METHODS: Of the 291 diseases and injuries in the GBD cause list, 289 cause disability. For 1160 sequelae of the 289 diseases and injuries, we undertook a systematic analysis of prevalence, incidence, remission, duration, and excess mortality. Sources included published studies, case notification, population-based cancer registries, other disease registries, antenatal clinic serosurveillance, hospital discharge data, ambulatory care data, household surveys, other surveys, and cohort studies. For most sequelae, we used a Bayesian meta-regression method, DisMod-MR, designed to address key limitations in descriptive epidemiological data, including missing data, inconsistency, and large methodological variation between data sources. For some disorders, we used natural history models, geospatial models, back-calculation models (models calculating incidence from population mortality rates and case fatality), or registration completeness models (models adjusting for incomplete registration with health-system access and other covariates). Disability weights for 220 unique health states were used to capture the severity of health loss. YLDs by cause at age, sex, country, and year levels were adjusted for comorbidity with simulation methods. We included uncertainty estimates at all stages of the analysis. FINDINGS: Global prevalence for all ages combined in 2010 across the 1160 sequelae ranged from fewer than one case per 1 million people to 350,000 cases per 1 million people. Prevalence and severity of health loss were weakly correlated (correlation coefficient -0·37). In 2010, there were 777 million YLDs from all causes, up from 583 million in 1990. The main contributors to global YLDs were mental and behavioural disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and diabetes or endocrine diseases. The leading specific causes of YLDs were much the same in 2010 as they were in 1990: low back pain, major depressive disorder, iron-deficiency anaemia, neck pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anxiety disorders, migraine, diabetes, and falls. Age-specific prevalence of YLDs increased with age in all regions and has decreased slightly from 1990 to 2010. Regional patterns of the leading causes of YLDs were more similar compared with years of life lost due to premature mortality. Neglected tropical diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and anaemia were important causes of YLDs in sub-Saharan Africa. INTERPRETATION: Rates of YLDs per 100,000 people have remained largely constant over time but rise steadily with age. Population growth and ageing have increased YLD numbers and crude rates over the past two decades. Prevalences of the most common causes of YLDs, such as mental and behavioural disorders and musculoskeletal disorders, have not decreased. Health systems will need to address the needs of the rising numbers of individuals with a range of disorders that largely cause disability but not mortality. Quantification of the burden of non-fatal health outcomes will be crucial to understand how well health systems are responding to these challenges. Effective and affordable strategies to deal with this rising burden are an urgent priority for health systems in most parts of the world. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.

BACKGROUND: Measuring disease and injury burden in populations requires a composite metric that captures both premature mortality and the prevalence and severity of ill-health. The 1990 Global Burden of Disease study proposed disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to measure disease burden. No comprehensive update of disease burden worldwide incorporating a systematic reassessment of disease and injury-specific epidemiology has been done since the 1990 study. We aimed to calculate disease burden worldwide and for 21 regions for 1990, 2005, and 2010 with methods to enable meaningful comparisons over time. METHODS: We calculated DALYs as the sum of years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs). DALYs were calculated for 291 causes, 20 age groups, both sexes, and for 187 countries, and aggregated to regional and global estimates of disease burden for three points in time with strictly comparable definitions and methods. YLLs were calculated from age-sex-country-time-specific estimates of mortality by cause, with death by standardised lost life expectancy at each age. YLDs were calculated as prevalence of 1160 disabling sequelae, by age, sex, and cause, and weighted by new disability weights for each health state. Neither YLLs nor YLDs were age-weighted or discounted. Uncertainty around cause-specific DALYs was calculated incorporating uncertainty in levels of all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, prevalence, and disability weights. FINDINGS: Global DALYs remained stable from 1990 (2·503 billion) to 2010 (2·490 billion). Crude DALYs per 1000 decreased by 23% (472 per 1000 to 361 per 1000). An important shift has occurred in DALY composition with the contribution of deaths and disability among children (younger than 5 years of age) declining from 41% of global DALYs in 1990 to 25% in 2010. YLLs typically account for about half of disease burden in more developed regions (high-income Asia Pacific, western Europe, high-income North America, and Australasia), rising to over 80% of DALYs in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1990, 47% of DALYs worldwide were from communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders, 43% from non-communicable diseases, and 10% from injuries. By 2010, this had shifted to 35%, 54%, and 11%, respectively. Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of DALYs worldwide in 2010 (up from fourth rank in 1990, increasing by 29%), followed by lower respiratory infections (top rank in 1990; 44% decline in DALYs), stroke (fifth in 1990; 19% increase), diarrhoeal diseases (second in 1990; 51% decrease), and HIV/AIDS (33rd in 1990; 351% increase). Major depressive disorder increased from 15th to 11th rank (37% increase) and road injury from 12th to 10th rank (34% increase). Substantial heterogeneity exists in rankings of leading causes of disease burden among regions. INTERPRETATION: Global disease burden has continued to shift away from communicable to non-communicable diseases and from premature death to years lived with disability. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, many communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional disorders remain the dominant causes of disease burden. The rising burden from mental and behavioural disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and diabetes will impose new challenges on health systems. Regional heterogeneity highlights the importance of understanding local burden of disease and setting goals and targets for the post-2015 agenda taking such patterns into account. Because of improved definitions, methods, and data, these results for 1990 and 2010 supersede all previously published Global Burden of Disease results. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Improvement of short-term outcomes with VR-based safety training for work at heights.

Serious games and virtual reality offer engaging learning opportunities and a cost-effective solution within an immersive and safe environment for safety training in construction. However, there have been few examples of safety training for work at heights developed using these technologies, especially commercial training. To fill this literature gap, a new VR-based safety training was developed and compared with lecture-based training across time. We conducted a quasi-experiment with a non-equivalent group design with 102 workers from six construction sites in Colombia. Learning objectives, observations from training centers, and national regulations were considered during the design of the training methods. Training outcomes were assessed using Kirkpatrick's model. We found that both training approaches were effective in improving knowledge test results and self-reported attitudes in the short-term; and risk-perception, self-reported behavior and safety climate in the long-term. In particular, participants of the VR-based training got significantly higher results in knowledge and reported higher attitudes (commitment and motivation) than participants of the lecture-based training. We suggest that safety managers and practitioners should invest in VR using serious games as an alternative to training programs based on short-term outcomes. Future work is needed to test VR for long-term outcomes.

Patterns of change of multisite pain over 1 year of follow-up and related risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Multisite musculoskeletal pain is common and disabling. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the distribution of musculoskeletal pain anatomically, and explore risk factors for increases/reductions in the number of painful sites. METHODS: Using data from participants working in 45 occupational groups in 18 countries, we explored changes in reporting pain at 10 anatomical sites on two occasions 14 months apart. We used descriptive statistics to explore consistency over time in the number of painful sites, and their anatomical distribution. Baseline risk factors for increases/reductions by ≥3 painful sites were explored by random intercept logistic regression that adjusted for baseline number of painful sites. RESULTS: Among 8927 workers, only 20% reported no pain at either time point, and 16% reported ≥3 painful sites both times. After 14 months, the anatomical distribution of pain often changed but there was only an average increase of 0.17 painful sites. Some 14% workers reported a change in painful sites by ≥3. Risk factors for an increase of ≥3 painful sites included female sex, lower educational attainment, having a physically demanding job and adverse beliefs about the work-relatedness of musculoskeletal pain. Also predictives were as follows: older age, somatizing tendency and poorer mental health (each of which was also associated with lower odds of reductions of ≥3 painful sites). CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinally, the number of reported painful sites was relatively stable but the anatomical distribution varied considerably. These findings suggest an important role for central pain sensitization mechanisms, rather than localized risk factors, among working adults. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings indicate that within individuals, the number of painful sites is fairly constant over time, but the anatomical distribution varies, supporting the theory that among people at work, musculoskeletal pain is driven more by factors that predispose to experiencing or reporting pain rather than by localized stressors specific to only one or two anatomical sites.

The effectiveness of virtual safety training in work at heights: A literature review.

Virtual environment techniques are technologies that can be used for safety training, and deliver significant advantages (e.g. risk-free, immersive learning). However, no studies have assessed the effectiveness of this training for work at heights (WAH). This paper aimed to synthesize the outcomes criteria for measuring the effectiveness of virtual safety training of WAH in different work sectors. A total of 658 records were identified through an explorative search of relevant citations from 2010 onwards. Only 21 documents were considered and classified according to the training goal: improvement of knowledge, skills or attitudes. Outcomes criteria of virtual safety training were analyzed according to Kirkpatrick's model. The results support practitioners and safety managers by providing an inventory of training methods, evaluation indicators and evaluation effects. Further recommendations are made for the design of an effective training assessment.