Background

The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationships musculoskeletal pains with combined vulnerability in terms of age, gender, and employment status

Methods

The fifth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) in 2010 (43,816 participants aged 15 years and over) analyzed for European employees and the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (KWCS) in 2011 (50,032 participants aged 15 years and older) analyzed for Korean employees. In this study, three well known vulnerable factors to musculoskeletal pains (older age, female gender, and precarious employment status) were combined and defined as combined vulnerability. Associations of musculoskeletal pains with combined vulnerability were assessed with prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) estimated by Poisson regression models with robust estimates of variance.

Results

The prevalences of musculoskeletal pains were lower but the absolute and relative differences between combined vulnerabilities were higher among Korean employees compared with the European employees. Furthermore, the increased risk of having musculoskeletal pains according to combined vulnerability was modestly explained by socioeconomic factors and exposure to ergonomic risk factors, especially in Republic of Korea.

Conclusions

The results of this study showed that the labor market may be more unfavorable for female and elderly workers in Republic of Korea. Any prevention strategies to ward off musculoskeletal pains, therefore, should be found and implemented to mitigate or buffer against the most vulnerable work population, older, female, and precarious employment status, in Republic of Korea.

中文翻译：

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基于年龄、性别和就业状况的韩国和欧洲员工自我报告的肌肉骨骼疼痛的不平等负担

背景

本研究的目的是阐明肌肉骨骼疼痛与年龄、性别和就业状况方面的综合脆弱性之间的关系

方法

2010 年第五次欧洲工作条件调查（EWCS）（43,816 名 15 岁及以上的参与者）分析了欧洲员工，2011 年第三次韩国工作条件调查（KWCS）（50,032 名 15 岁及以上参与者）分析了韩国员工。在这项研究中，将三个众所周知的肌肉骨骼疼痛易感因素（年龄较大、女性和不稳定的就业状况）结合起来并定义为综合易感性。肌肉骨骼疼痛与综合脆弱性的关联通过泊松回归模型估计的患病率 (PRs) 和 95% 置信区间 (CIs) 进行了评估，该模型具有稳健的方差估计值。

结果

与欧洲员工相比，韩国员工的肌肉骨骼疼痛患病率较低，但综合脆弱性之间的绝对和相对差异较高。此外，社会经济因素和暴露于人体工程学风险因素，特别是在大韩民国，适度解释了因综合脆弱性而增加的肌肉骨骼疼痛风险。

结论

这项研究的结果表明，大韩民国的劳动力市场可能对女性和老年工人更为不利。因此，应找到并实施任何预防肌肉骨骼疼痛的策略，以减轻或缓冲大韩民国最脆弱的工作人群、老年人、女性和不稳定的就业状况。