Musculoskeletal disorders among professional nurses in mainland China

Although musculoskeletal disorders represent a significant occupational issue for professional nurses worldwide, few epidemiological studies have been conducted in mainland China. Therefore, we investigated 180 nurses (84.1 percent response rate) from a teaching hospital in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, using a previously validated, self-reporting musculoskeletal disorder survey. The overall prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was 70.0 percent, with individual categories reported as follows: lower back (56.7 percent), neck (42.8 percent), shoulders (38.9 percent) and upper back (38.9 percent). Period pain was shown to increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders 23.8 times (odds ratio [OR] 23.8; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 4.3-189.1; P = .0008). Excessive mental pressure incurred a 10.5-fold risk increase (OR 10.5; 95 percent CI, 2.2-67.5; P = .0058). Interestingly, occasional consumption of alcoholic drinks reduced the risk of musculoskeletal disorders 10-fold (OR 0.1; 95 percent CI, 0.01-0.4; P = .0046), as did working in the gynecology department (OR 0.1; 95 percent CI, 0.01-0.7, P = .0240). Overall, our study showed that musculoskeletal disorders are common among nursing professionals in mainland China and represent an important occupational issue for this Asian demographic.