Lack of regular physical activity and adequate sleep are risk factors for musculoskeletal pain in medical college students - a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background During January-May 2020, novel coronavirus outbreak occurred in East China, and many medical college students, implemented a home protection policy, resulting in significant changes in their physical activity and lifestyle habits. This work aims to analyze the effects of usual physical activity habits, changes in physical activity and lifestyle habits during home protection on the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain from multiple perspectives, and to provide new clues for the search of risk factors for musculoskeletal pain and alternative solutions for the prevention. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using questionnaires from 900 randomly selected medical students who had taken home protection between January and May 2020 from four medical universities in East China. Participants completed surveys on socio-demographic characteristics, days of home protection, physical activity in daily life, changes in physical activity during home protection, and daily routine, and reported the location of musculoskeletal pain during home protection. Pain was assessed using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores, and considered to be present if the VAS score > 0. The questionnaire data were double-checked and entered into Epi Data 3.0 to create a database, and SPSS 19.0 was used for statistical analysis. The correlation between measures and musculoskeletal pain was determined using the Mann-Whitney U test, and the correlation between categorical variables and musculoskeletal pain was determined using the chi-square test, and multi-factor logistic regression analysis was used to remove confounding factors and screen for risk factors. The test level was set at α = 0.05. Results The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain during home protection was 40.2% (n = 345; 95% CI 36.9%-43.4%). Multi-factor logistic regression analysis revealed that the females (OR 1.391; 95% CI 1.006–1.922), irregular physical activity in daily life (OR 1.648; 95% CI 1.157–2.347), and less than 6 hours of sleep per day during home protection (OR 1.474; 95% CI 1.020–2.131) were found to be risk factors for musculoskeletal pain. Conclusions Female medical students should pay more attention to the prevention of musculoskeletal pain; regular physical activity in daily life and sufficient sleep time may prevent the occurrence of musculoskeletal pain.