The Impact of Serum Vitamin D Levels on the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Garment Workers in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

MSD is a very important issue among the garments worker because it creates health problem like MSD in upper and lower part of the body, increase sick leave and absenteeism and decrease productivity which ultimately makes a great impact of our total economy. The Cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the serum Vitamin D level and status of MSD among the garments worker at selected garments industries (Classic Shirts Ltd.) in Bangladesh. The serum Vitamin D level was measured by ELISA method. The total 168 respondents were included in this study where 64.3% respondents were Female and 35% were Male respondents with the mean age was 27.42±7.484 years. Among the respondents 13.7% were illiterate whereas 45.2% were Primary level and 41.1% completed their high school or secondary level education. Among the respondents 61.3% were unmarried and 80.4% belongs to nuclear family. Their mean work experience 4.52±2.153 years and mean monthly income was 7376.88±6.302 tk BDT. Among the respondents 67.3% work in standing position whereas 32.7% is in sitting position. Moreover, 10.1% worked in cutting section whereas 64.3% worked in sewing section followed by 13.1% worked in finishing section and 12.5% respondents worked in ironing section. Among the respondents 62.5% had previous work experience and 63.4% were from same profession. In these participants group, about 86.3% participants had sufficient Vitamin D level with mean serum Vitamin D 70.37±8.838 ng/ml and 61.3% had normal BMI with mean BMI 22.75±3.535 kg/m². Out of 168 respondents the total 35.1% reported of MSD in different area of body where 67.8% respondents were in standing posture and 32.2% in sitting posture and it has found that, the number of MSD is higher among the participants who are working in standing position (p<0.05). Similarly, it has also recorded that, the Number of MSD is high among the participants who have long time work experience (p<0.05). From this study a significant association has found between serum vitamin D level and MSD. Those participants who had insufficient or deficient level serum vitamin D 23.7% were suffering from MSDs and 8.3% had no MSDs. Here test of significant value is <0.05 which indicates sufficient level of serum Vitamin D can reduce the prevalence of developing MSDs. It was also observed that, among the respondents who were sufferings from MSD, whom 18.6% had both insufficient Vitamin D level and positive family history and 37.5% had no MSDs in spite of having insufficient Vitamin D level and negative family history. On the other hand, 81.4% had MSDs although they had sufficient level of vitamin D but had positive family history.  At the same time, 94.4% respondents had no MSD though they had positive family history but they had sufficient level of Vitamin D. According to statistics I found that if serum vitamin D increases 1 unit, number of MSD can be decreased in one person per four persons.