[Current status of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in nurses in Xinjiang, China]

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in nurses in Xinjiang, China, to analyze the influencing factors for the development of WMSDs, and to provide a reference for the prevention and treatment of WMSDs in nurses. Methods: Stratified cluster sampling was used to randomly select 8 422 nurses in 8 tertiary hospitals and 4 secondary hospitals in Xinjiang from January to October, 2015. A questionnaire survey was performed to investigate the prevalence of WMSDs in nurses from departments of internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, emergency, and intensive care and operating rooms and analyze related influencing factors. Results: A total of 3 000 questionnaires were distributed, and 2 851 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a recovery rate of 95.00%. In the nurses who participated in the survey, the prevalence of WMSDs was 78.58%. As for different body parts, the prevalence of WMSDs was 63.36% in the waist, 61.79% in the neck, 52.52% in the shoulder, 41.83% in the back, 35.56% in the knees, 33.35% in the ankles, 26.02% in the wrists, 23.41% in the hip, and 17.62% in the elbows. There were significant differences in the prevalence of WMSDs across the nurses with different ages and working years (χ²=28.29 and 27.73, both P<0.01) , and the prevalence of WMSDs tended to increase with the increasing age and working years (χ²=22.94 and 17.56, both P<0.01) . The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex, working years, intensive care/emergency, outpatient service, surgical anesthesia, weekly working hours, physical condition, and fatigue in work were risk factors for WMSDs in nurses. Conclusion: In the nurses in Xinjiang, the prevalence of WMSDs in the neck, shoulder, back, and waist is high, and nurses with different ages, working years, departments, sexes, physical conditions, and weekly working hours have varying degrees of risk of WMSDs.