Shoulder and neck pain in female office employees in Tromsø

Abstract

Objective- To determine the prevalence and predictors of neck and shoulder pain in female office workers in Tromsø. Methods- A cross-sectional study was performed using population- based data from the Tromsø 6 study which was carried out between 2007 and 2008. The population under study were 619 female office workers. Information regarding individual factors, lifestyle factors and work factors were extracted. Associations between independent variables and neck and shoulder pain were investigated using logistic regression and were reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval. Results- The prevalence of neck pain and shoulder pain among female office workers was 21.8% and 21.6%, respectively. Three main risk factors were significantly associated with neck pain: (1) Current smoking (OR: 2.098; CI: 1.171-3.757) and former smoking (OR: 1.942; CI: 1.142-3.301), (2) employment in local government or county authorities (OR: 2.288; CI: 1.305-4.011), as well as (3) unfairly treated at work (OR: 2.169; CI:1.060-4.440). The risk factor significantly associated with shoulder pain was employment in local government or county authorities (OR:1.842; CI:1.049-3.235). Full time work was significantly, but inversely, associated with both neck pain (OR: 0.415; CI: 0.265-0.649) and shoulder pain (OR: 0.380; CI: 0.243-0.595) in our study. Conclusion- Neck pain in the studied female office workers of Tromsø was significantly associated with smoking, employment in local government/ county authorities and unfair treatment at work. Employment in local government or county authorities was a significant risk factor for pain in the shoulder region. Full-time work did not present as a risk factor for neck or shoulder pain, rather opposite.