Authors : Alireza Rahimi, Babak Vahdatpour, Saeid Khosrawi, Alireza Mogtaderi, Soheil Sattari, Farnaz Dabiri and Omid Mashrabi
Abstract: Workload imposition is an important factor in the occurrence of musculoskeletal symptoms among the working groups. The purpose of this study is to determine the 12 months prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among pathologist and workload factors with occurrence of symptoms. In a cross-sectional study, pathologist population in Isfahan determined by using Medical Council Information Center. We took a photograph using digital camera when they were working with microscope. Data analyzed using Quick Exposure Check (QEC) for assessing exposure to WMSDs related risk factors. Among 51 pathologists, 37 (72.5%) of them was male and (27.5%) of them was female. The mean age, total work hours per week and working hours with medical instruments per week were 43.0±14.4, 46.5±17.9 and 36.9±18.6, respectively. The 12 months prevalence rates of WMSDs were highest in the neck (33.3%) and neck (21.6%) followed by the arm, shoulder (9.8%) and then elbow (7.8%) but least in the leg, wrist and wrist (5.9%). Among all of cases, 27.5, 41.2 and 31.4% had low, moderate and high working hours, respectively. Individual anatomical prevalence rate was high in the cases who were >30 years old compared with <30 that is not significant statistically (p = 0.1). Also, there were no significant relation between anatomical regions pain and sex (p = 0.2), total working hours (p = 0.03) and working hours with medical instruments (p = 0.08). The only statistically significant relation is relation between types of shoulder exposure risks and age groups (p = 0.08). These findings suggest that the 12 months prevalence of WMSDs among pathologist in Isfahan is similar to prevalence reported in other study but values are lower than their values. Also, there was no significant relation between anatomical regions pain and most of risk factors. We recommend performing further studies with more cases on pathologists particularly in whom working for long hours with medical instrument (microscope).
Alireza Rahimi, Babak Vahdatpour, Saeid Khosrawi, Alireza Mogtaderi, Soheil Sattari, Farnaz Dabiri and Omid Mashrabi, 2010. Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Pathologists in Isfahan: A Cross-Sectional Study. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 5: 793-797.