Low Back Pain and Associated Presenteeism among Hospital Nursing Staff

Abstract

Low Back Pain and Associated Presenteeism among Hospital Nursing Staff: Angelo d’ERRICO, et al. Department of Epidemiology, Local Health Unit TO3, Italy— Objectives In spite of the high prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and presenteeism previously observed among nurses, no study has assessed the risk of presenteeism specifically due to LBP in nursing staff. Therefore, aim of the present study was to assess prevalence and risk factors of presenteeism due to LBP among hospital nursing personnel. Methods 174 female nurses underwent a clinical interview and filled in a questionnaire on sociodemographics, LBP symptoms and associated sickness absence, mental symptoms, burnout and on exposure to workplace organizational, psychosocial and ergonomic factors; 111 subjects affected by LBP were included in the analysis. The effect of sociodemographic and workplace characteristics on presenteeism was examined through multivariate Poisson robust regression models. Results Prevalence of presenteeism due to LBP was 58%, with wide differences between registered nurses and nursing aides (p=0.001). Only a few workplace factors were significantly associated with presenteeism, including frequent stooping, which decreased the risk of presenteeism, and good working climate and procedural justice, which increased it. Conclusions Presenteeism due to LBP was very high among registered nurses and was influenced only by workplace, but not by sociodemographic characteristics. Presenteeism due to LBP among registered nurses should be closely monitored, and effort should be made to reduce it to prevent future work disability associated with LBP.

Workplace bullying and sickness presenteeism: cross-sectional and prospective associations in a 2-year follow-up study

“…Robust error variance, known as sandwich estimation (Royall 1986), is commonly used to adjust for the overestimation of RR errors that occurs when Poisson regression is applied to binomial outcomes (Zocchetti et al 1995). Modified Poisson regression has been previously used in both prospective (Bergtröm et al 2009a, b) and cross-sectional (D'Errico et al 2013;Leineweber et al 2011) studies with SP treated as a dichotomous dependent variable. In the event of common outcomes (>10 %), this analytical strategy provides more correct estimates of RR than logistic regression (Greenland 2004;McNutt et al 2003).…”

Cross-Validation of the Work Organization Assessment Questionnaire Across Genders

“…The nursing profession is especially prone to work-related ill-health [3][4][5]. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates the contribution of psychosocial working conditions to these issues [e.g., [6][7].…”

Physiological and Psychological Predictors of Short-Term Disability in Workers with a History of Low Back Pain: A Longitudinal Study

“…Since they always live with doubts as to when the next episode will strike [5, 6], many individuals with LBP report that their activities are limited and that they consciously make efforts to avoid pain recurrences when they are pain-free, or pain exacerbations when their pain is ongoing [7]. Most of these individuals still work, but with a decreased productivity [8, 9]. Moreover, flare-ups are characterized by increased pain causing additional activity limitations [7].…”