Work- and stress-related musculoskeletal and sleep disorders among health professionals: a cross-sectional study in a hospital setting in Switzerland

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal and sleep disorders have been reported to be very common among health care and hospital workers and particularly nurses. They are assumed or found to be a result of psychological stress and/or physical strain or pain. However, no other study so farat least in a hospital setting and for Switzerlandhas considered and investigated musculoskeletal as well as sleep disorders in consequence of or rather in association with both physical workload and psychological stress. Methods: Cross-sectional survey data of 1232 health professionals were used and analysed. Data were collected in 2015/16 among the health care workforces of three public hospitals and two rehabilitation clinics in the Germanspeaking part of Switzerland. Musculoskeletal and sleep disorders were assessed by three items taken from the Swiss Health Survey, a 2-item measure of accumulated low back, back, neck and shoulder pain and a single-item measure of problems in getting to sleep or sleeping through. Stratified and adjusted bivariate logistic and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to calculate measures of association (adjusted odds ratios, zstandardized beta coefficients), to control for potential confounders, and to compare different health professions (nurses, physicians, therapists, other). Results: Almost every fourth of the studied health professionals reported severe or even very severe musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and nearly every seventh severe sleep disorders (SDs). These prevalence rates were significantly or at least slightly higher among nurses than among physicians and other health care workers. General stress, work stress, physical effort at work, and particularly a painful or tiring posture at work were found to be clear and strong risk factors for MSDs, whereas only general and work-related stress were found to be significantly associated with SDs. There was no or only weak association between MSDs and SDs. Conclusions: This study found MSDs to be largely a result of physical workload or rather poor posture at work and only secondarily a consequence of (general) stress, whereas SDs were revealed to be primarily a consequence of stress on and particularly off the job. Preventive strategies therefore have to differentiate and combine measures for the reduction of both psychological stress and physical strain.

Interaction Effects of Physical and Psychosocial Working Conditions on Risk for Sickness Absence: A Prospective Study of Nurses and Care Assistants in Sweden

“…Results with a similar magnitude of excess risks of sickness absence were found for the combinations of job control and heavy physical work and strenuous postures, respectively. These results are in-line with research reviews and previous studies on how combinations of physical and psychosocial exposures among health and social care workers affect health, sickness absence, or disability [ 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 49 ].…”

“…The fact that there were fewer nurses than care assistants in the study affected the statistical measurements, and the large confidence intervals also indicated heterogeneity among the employees of both groups. As shown in recent research, the working conditions among nurses, as well as among care assistants, are diverse with respect to work obligations and work organizations [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 36 ]. Some nurses and care assistants who reported both harmful psychosocial and physical challenges may be able to handle their activities in a planned way, while other employees have to work in urgent situations more regularly.…”

“…Research reviews and individual studies among health and social care workers have shown that heavy lifting, twisting, and bending often are combined with urgent time pressure and low possibilities to determine the work pace, conditions known to increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders, sickness absence, and disability [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. However, the effect of the combined exposure of psychosocial and physical risk factors on future health and sickness absence among health and care employees is rarely studied in terms of interaction effects; instead, the focus has been on single factors [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders among nurses at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation in Guyana

“…The nurses responded to questionnaires with items on lifestyle, health, and working environment, and the study findings indicated that moderate and high stress at baseline increased the odds of LBP at one year follow up with odds ratios (OR) of 1.39 (95% CI 1.13-1.71) and 1.99 (95% CI 1.49-2.66) respectively. The researchers concluded that psychological stress increases the odds of LBP among healthcare workers, and similar findings were found in the cross-sectional study done by Hammig (2020) 63,65. Al-Hadidi et al (2020) carried out a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of LBP among female Jordanian Hospital staff at childbearing age since low back…”

“…61 More so, research in occupational medicine has identified several physical and psychological risk factors for the development of WMSD. Also, previous studies have shown that MSD was63 Schroder and Nienhous (2020) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the occurrence of Work-related intervertebral disc disease of the lumbar spine (LDD) among health personnel. Five studies reported a high prevalence of LDD among nurses and geriatric nurses (11.3% -96.3%) compared to all controls (3.8% -76.5%).…”