Musculoskeletal symptoms among Korean nursing students

Abstract

We investigated the epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Symptoms (MSS) among Korean nursing students using a validated, questionnaire survey. Among 202 students, the prevalence of MSS at any body site ranged from 69.0% to 77.1% (overall rate: 73.3%). MSS was most commonly reported at the shoulder (46.0%), followed by the lower back (39.1%), neck (35.6%), feet (25.2%) and lower legs (23.8%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that students who undertook regular exercise were only half as likely to report an MSS at any body site (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2 - 0.9, P = 0.0350). Increasing body weight was also correlated with a decreased likelihood of MSS (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.002 - 0.9, P = 0.0460). Overall, our study has shown that Korean nursing students report a high prevalence of MSS, when compared to their international counterparts. Their MSS burden is roughly comparable with Korean workers, in a variety of occupations. Further investigations will now be required to elucidate the contributory factors for nursing students' MSS in Korea, as elsewhere.

Musculoskeletal disorders among first-year Ghanaian students in a nursing college

“…Besides that, the clustering pattern of MSDs particularly in the neck (28.0%), upper back (27.4%), lower back (23.6%), wrists/hand (22.9%) and hip/thigh (21.0%) observed from this study is somewhat different compared with findings in previous studies among nursing students 18,19 . Among Korean nursing students, the reported prevalence pattern was mostly in the shoulder (46.0%), lower back (39.1%), neck (35.6%), feet (25.2%) and leg (23.8%) 18 whereas in Australian nursing students, it was mostly in the lower back (59.2%), neck (34.6%), knee (25.0%) and shoulder (23.8%) regions 19 . The observed variations could, in part, be due to differences in population (race and ethnicity), study design and sample size, comorbidities and predisposing factors.…”

“…This prevalence rate is in general agreement with the prevalence rates reported in the literature for college students which vary between 32.9% and 89.3% [6][7][8][9][10][11][13][14][15][16]18,19 . It is however higher than the 32.9% 8 and 36.9% 9 reported among nursing students in Japan, and lower than the 73.3% 18 and 80.0% 19 reported among nursing students in Korea and Australia respectively, as well as the reported prevalence among nurses at the workplace (i.e 78-84.4%) [30][31][32][33] .…”

“…Despite an elevated prevalence of MSDs in this population, the prevalence of MSDs in the different body regions is lower than that reported in previous studies with similarly high prevalence rates of MSDs among college students 7,11,[13][14][15]18,19 . Besides that, the clustering pattern of MSDs particularly in the neck (28.0%), upper back (27.4%), lower back (23.6%), wrists/hand (22.9%) and hip/thigh (21.0%) observed from this study is somewhat different compared with findings in previous studies among nursing students 18,19 .…”

“…They are a major cause of severe long-term pain and disability 1,2 , productivity loss 3 and reduced quality of life 4,5 which can lead to reduced educational attainment among students. In recent years, MSDs have emerged as a public health problem among college students, with the estimated prevalence rate varying between 32.9% and 89.3% in different parts of the world [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] . Factors such as computer usage [10][11][12][13]17 , female sex 6,7,14,17 , lack of regular exercise 13,18 and psychosocial stress and mental pressure 6,15 have been associated with increased prevalence of MSDs among this population.…”

Nursing Students Experiences Of Pain And Use The Methods To Cope

“…Avustralya'da hemşirelik öğrencileri ile yapılan çalışmada öğrencilerin %59,2'sinin, Kore'de yapılan çalışmada ise %39,1'inin bel ağrısı yaşadığı saptanmıştır. [14,15] Trinity üniversi-tesi öğrencilerinin %52,8'inin, Bahraini üniversitesi öğrencilerinin %77,6'sının, muskuloskeletal ağrı yaşadığı belirlenmiştir. [16,17] Yapılan araştırmalarda bilgisayar, cep telefonu kullanımının muskuloskeletal ağrı yaşamayı arttırdığı saptanmıştır.…”