P108 Awareness of musculoskeletal disorders and its health impact among civil servants in Malaysia: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background Work-related musculoskeletal disorders have been perceived as one of the reasons of declining work productivity in relation to absenteeism, sick leave or early retirement. We have determined the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among current working civil servants and have assessed the health impact of musculoskeletal disorders towards them or other people surrounding them. Methods Participants were given a self-administered questionnaire consisting of demographic data, experience of musculoskeletal disorders, perceptions, knowledge and attitudes towards musculoskeletal disorders. Out of 174 participants, 147 returned completed forms (response rate: 84.5%). Data were analysed using SPSS Statistics v22. Results The average age of the respondents with standard deviation was 39.9 ± 9.82 years and a majority were female (78.2%). Mean body mass index between the participants were 26.36 ± 5.26, normal to obese range. Most of the participants described their type of job as active in nature (51.7%) with a majority working 5-8 hours per day. Mean duration for years of working in service were 16.20 ± 9.53. Half of them had musculoskeletal pain within the last 3 months prior to the study date, with highest frequency over the knee joint (29.9%) followed by lower back (21.8%) and shoulder area (21.1%). From the multivariate logistic regression analyses, only 2 factors in the knowledge section showed statistical associations regarding questions asking whether the participants knew what arthritis was (p = 0.005), and if they experienced arthritis themselves (p = 0.002). We found that there were no significant associations between the race, education level, marital status, type of work, duration of work or body mass index (BMI) with the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain within the participants. Conclusion The majority of respondents had knee pain followed by lower back pain and shoulder pain. Although there is strong correlation between knowledge of arthritis among participants, majority of them cannot specify the type of arthritis correctly. As such, continuous health education and promotion of the programme is vital. Disclosures H. Ariff None. N. Shahril None. L. Eow None. W. Wan Musa None. S. Rajalingam None. M. Jeffrizal None. A. Ramlan None. S. Selvadurai None. D. Ang None. D. Suahilai None. L. Mohd Isa None.