Dataset Musculoskeletal pain in health professionals at the end of their studies and 1 year after entry into the profession: A multi-center longitudinal study.

Dataset related to the paper "Musculoskeletal pain in health professionals at the end of their studies and 1 year after entry into the profession: A multi-center longitudinal study."

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal pain, especially back pain, is common among health professionals (HPs). They reduce work productivity and cause high costs. This follow up study investigates the prevalence and individual course of Musculoskeletal pain among HP students at the end of their studies and one year after entering the health care workforce. Participants were asked whether their Musculoskeletal pain was related to study or work conditions.

Method: Self reported one year prevalence for lower back pain, neck and shoulder pain, pain in arms or hands, and pain in legs or feet was collected by an online questionnaire at two timepoints from 1046 participating HPs. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models of the binomial family with log link were employed to estimate adjusted prevalence and corresponding normal based 95% confidence intervals were derived using the bootstrap method with 1,000 replications.

Results: Prevalence of lower back pain as well as neck and shoulder pain was very high at baseline and follow up in all students and later HPs. Prevalence for pain in arms or hands, legs or feet was lower and there were significant differences between the professions. HP associated their lower back pain and neck and shoulder pain clearly with study and work conditions; HPs linked pain in arms or hands, legs or feet strongly with work conditions only.

Conclusion: The prevention of lower back pain and neck and shoulder pain must be included in the curricula of all health professions at universities. As best practice example, they should incorporate ergonomic measures and exercises as a daily routine of the formation of health professionals. The impact of physically demanding professional tasks on upper and lower extremities needs to be investigated in further studies in order to take preventive measures.