This study followed assembly line workers during 7 months, comprising a 4-wk season holidays. The main purposes were to determine the potential effect of working time on the presence and intensity of upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms, as to verify the effect of 4 wk of job interruption in the upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms presence and intensity. Data was collected during 6 moments. Generalized estimating equations analyses were used. For the effect estimates, odds ratio with corresponding 95% confidence intervals were reported for each outcome/model. The upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms showed a significant increase (p=0.001), especially after the 4 wk off. In all data collection points there was a significant positive association between the upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms and general health status (p<0.001). Considering symptoms’ intensity, significant relations were found (p<0.001). Work time had a negative effect on the work-related upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms over 7 months (OR 0.909, 95% CI 0.861–0.960, p=0.001). For the intensity of upper limb symptoms, the effect of time was also statistical significant (OR 0.115, 95% CI 1.031–1.220, p=0.008). A 4-wk job interruption did not show an immediately positive effect on upper limb musculoskeletal symptoms presence.

本研究对装配线工人进行了为期 7 个月的跟踪调查，其中包括 4 周的季节性假期。主要目的是确定工作时间对上肢肌肉骨骼症状的存在和强度的潜在影响，以验证工作中断 4 周对上肢肌肉骨骼症状的存在和强度的影响。在 6 个时刻收集数据。使用广义估计方程分析。对于效果估计，针对每个结果/模型报告了具有相应 95% 置信区间的优势比。上肢肌肉骨骼症状明显增加（p=0.001)，尤其是在 4 周后。在所有数据收集点中，上肢肌肉骨骼症状与一般健康状况之间存在显着的正相关（p <0.001）。考虑到症状的强度，发现了显着的关系（p <0.001）。工作时间对超过 7 个月的工作相关上肢肌肉骨骼症状有负面影响（OR 0.909，95% CI 0.861–0.960，p = 0.001）。对于上肢症状的强度，时间的影响也具有统计学意义（OR 0.115，95% CI 1.031–1.220，p = 0.008）。4 周的工作中断并未立即显示出对上肢肌肉骨骼症状的积极影响。