Incidence and suspected cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, United Kingdom, 1996-2001

Musculoskeletal conditions are the most common self-reported work-related disease, with high costs incurred from long-term disability. In the United Kingdom, occupational physicians and rheumatologists have been reporting new cases of work-related musculoskeletal disorders to voluntary surveillance schemes since 1996.

To estimate population incidence rates for work-related musculoskeletal disorders reported by rheumatologists and occupational physicians by occupation and industry, in relation to tasks and movements suspected as causal.

Estimated average annual incidence rates were calculated for nine main job categories and eight industrial groups; Labour Force Survey figures were used as the denominator for rheumatologists, and a special survey for the occupational physicians. These were then related to tasks and movements reported as causal.

Between October 1997 and the end of 2001, an estimated 2,599 new cases/year were reported by rheumatologists, and from January 1996, 5,278 cases/year by occupational physicians. Average annual rates overall were 94 per million for rheumatologists and 1,643 per million for occupational physicians (a 17-fold difference). Jobs at highest risk for the upper limb were primarily clerical, craft-related and machine work. Tasks associated with upper limb disorders and with neck and back problems were predominantly keyboard work and heavy lifting, and in craft-related occupations with gripping or holding tools.

Jobs at risk and the associate tasks were identified which should assist prevention, but the extent to which these factors were causal or aggravating previous injury requires further study. The much higher rates reported by occupational physicians reflect, in part, the type of industries they served.