Relationship of Healthy Building Determinants With Back and Neck Pain: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objective Back pain and neck pain are very common, costly, and disabling. Healthy building determinants within the built environment have not been adequately assessed as contributors to these conditions. The objective of this study was to systematically review the literature on the relationship of healthy building determinants with back and neck pain. Data Source PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and PEDRo. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: Studies were included if they met the following criteria: Adults, comparison of healthy building determinants (air quality, ventilation, dust and pests, lighting and views, moisture, noise, safety/security, thermal health, water quality) with back and neck pain, original research, English. Studies were excluded if full text articles were unavailable and if the focus was patient and materials handling or ergonomics. Data Extraction Data extraction and other review procedures were elaborated according to PRISMA guidelines. Data Synthesis: Data were synthesized with an approach adapted from Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and American Physical Therapy Association. Results 37 articles enrolling 46,223 participants were eligible. Most articles were cross-sectional (31/37) and fair quality (28/37). None were interventional. Evidence was found to generally support a relationship indicating that as healthy building determinants worsen, the risk of back and neck pain increases. Conclusion Although the available evidence precludes interpretations about causality, the study's findings are starting points to guide future research, knowledge creation, and health promotion initiatives about the relationships of the built environment with back and neck pain.

Relationship of Healthy Building Determinants With Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Extremities: A Systematic Review

“…Approaches adapted from the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, Clinical Information Access Portal [20][21][22][23], and American Physical Therapy Association [8,24] were used to handle data and synthesize the evidence [13].…”

“…The instrument has 14 items in which an item is rated as yes = 1, or no = 0 (total instrument score is 0-14) [32]. The authors calculated score ranges for study quality categories [32] from the total score [13]: 0-4 = poor quality (high risk of bias), 5-9 = fair quality (between low risk and high risk of bias), 10-14 = good quality (low risk of bias) [32]. Level of evidence (study type) was categorized using approaches adapted from the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine [20][21][22][23].…”

“…Evidence synthesis: Empirical evidence statements were synthesized based on strategies adapted from the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine [21][22][23], American Physical Therapy Association [8,24], and relevant systematic reviews [13,26]. Empirical evidence statements were based on pairwise comparisons with each assessing one MSD region by one HBD category (including the three thermal health subdivisions and the aggregate variable of overall work environment).…”

“…Twenty-six studies seemed to be eligible at preliminary review, but were deemed ineligible for the following reasons: association of MSD with HBD not assessed (n = 9) [86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94], HBD details not provided (n = 1) [95], HBD not assessed (n = 7) [96][97][98][99][100][101][102], independent impact of HBD could not be concluded (n = 1) [103], not indoor environment (n = 4) [104][105][106][107], not MSD (n = 3) [108][109][110], and not original research (n = 1) [111]. Sixteen studies [34,38,[47][48][49][50]58,63,67,69,70,72,73,75,78,79] uncovered in the current review were also reported in our other systematic review on HBDs and spine-related MSDs (back pain, neck pain) [13]. Of these 16 studies, 11 studies presented separate data for extremity/general MSDs and spine-related MSDs [47][48]…”

“…Furthermore, multi-faceted interventions are required to manage MSDs including medications, exercises, psychosocial interventions, bodyweight and general health guidance, and possibly surgical interventions [8][9][10][11][12]. Given the complexities and challenges of MSDs and their ongoing burden, it is possible that additional elements could impact these disorders that have not been fully researched, for example, indoor environmental quality [13]. A 2001 survey of people in the United States found that approximately 90% of people's time is allocated to the indoor built environment [14,15].…”