With 239 physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices filling in the questionnaire, 4 of them due to the history of spinal cord surgery and 1 person due to completing the questionnaire in half were removed and in the end 125 men and 109 women were examined. The mean ages were 8.31 ± 35.23, 28.21 ± 5.52, 25.07 ± 3.23, and 23.69 ± 4.83 for physicians, nurses, interns, and nursing apprentices, respectively. In this research, 97.1% of physicians, 87.3% of nurses, 84.4% of interns, and 82.7% of nursing interns had MSDs at least in one of the 8 body regions (Table 1).
Table 1
descriptive statistics – qualitative variables
Case Summaries | Frequency (N) | Precent (%) |
| Gender | Male | 125 | 53.4 |
Female | 109 | 46.6 |
Total | 234 | 100.0 |
Major | Medicine | 34 | 14.5 |
Nursing | 71 | 30.3 |
Medicine student | 77 | 32.9 |
Nursing student | 52 | 22.2 |
Worke-hours | 8 hours | 150 | 64.1 |
10 hours or more | 84 | 35.9 |
Study-hours | less than 5 hours | 194 | 82.9 |
5 to 7 hours | 35 | 15.0 |
more than 7 hours | 5 | 2.1 |
Exercise | every day | 19 | 8.1 |
some days in week | 68 | 29.1 |
some days in month | 82 | 35.0 |
Never | 65 | 27.8 |
Residing | Native | 109 | 46.6 |
Non-native | 125 | 53.4 |
Type of activity | Sitting | 27 | 11.5 |
Standing | 60 | 25.6 |
sitting & standing | 147 | 62.8 |
Anesthesia | Spinal | 22 | 9.4 |
nothing | 212 | 90.6 |
Marriage | Married | 49 | 20.9 |
Single | 185 | 79.1 |
Married lady | No children | 25 | 10.7 |
cesarean section | 8 | 3.4 |
NVD | 6 | 2.6 |
[Table 1 near here]
In total, 34 physicians, 71 nurses, 77 interns, and 52 nursing apprentices replied to the questionnaire, out of whom 46.6% were natives of where they worked.
On average, 42% of the participants had BMI < 23. In all occupational groups (physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices), there was a significant relationship between the prevalence of MSDs and increased body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.0001), with the power in this relationship being higher in the lumbar and lower organs regions (Cramer's V = 0.990) (table-2).
[Table 2 near here]
Table 2
descriptive statistics – quantitative variables
Descriptive Statistics |
| Mean | Median | Mode | Std. Deviation |
Age (year) | Medicine | 35.2353 | 32.0000 | | 8.31595 |
Nursing | 28.2113 | 26.0000 | | 5.52376 |
Medicine student | 25.0779 | 24.0000 | | 3.23129 |
Nursing student | 23.6923 | 22.0000 | | 4.83670 |
Total | 27.2886 | 25.0 | 24.0 | ±6.48670 |
Weight (Kg) | 67.8717 | 66.0 | 60.0 | ± 1.28156 |
Height (m) | 1.6855 | 1.68 | 1.60 | ± .09005 |
BMI (Kg/m2) | Medicine | 24.4701 | 23.9690 | - | ± 2.97898 |
Nursing | 25.1777 | 25.3444 | - | ± 4.02908 |
Medicine student | 23.0324 | 23.4061 | - | ± 3.43185 |
Nursing student | 22.9901 | 23.7812 | - | ± 3.59565 |
Total | 23.8329 | 23.7812 | 17.58 | ± 3.70184 |
It is worth noting that in all occupational groups (physicians, nurses, interns and nursing apprentices), there was a significant relationship between gender and the prevalence of pain in different regions (wrist, hand and elbow), with the level of significance and power in this relationship being shown in table-3. And as the number of working hours per day increases, the prevalence of musculoskeletal pains goes up.
[Table 3 near here]
Table 3
relationship between gender and the prevalence of pain in different regions
| Gender | Working hour |
| Correlation coefficient | p-value | Correlation coefficient | p-value |
Neck | 0.143 | 0.093 | 0.182 | 0.021 |
Shoulder | 0.096 | 0.338 | 0.052 | 0.726 |
Elbow | 0.177 | 0.025 | 0.149 | 0.075 |
Wrist | 0.206 | 0.008 | 0.107 | 0.265 |
Lumbar region | 0.096 | 0.338 | 0.171 | 0.033 |
Bottom and thigh | 0.126 | 0.154 | 0.163 | 0.045 |
Knee | 0.061 | 0.643 | 0.168 | 0.036 |
Ankle | 0.107 | 0.259 | 0.125 | 0.159 |
There was a difference among the studied groups in terms of exercise, with those exercising every day less likely to suffer from MSDs than others.
There was no significant relationship between time spent reading and the prevalence of MSDs (p-value > 0.05). 11.5%, 25.6%, and 62.8% of the participants worked in sitting, standing, and sitting/standing positions, respectively, with the sitting position among physicians (74.1%), the standing position among nurses (46.7%), and the sitting/standing position among interns (40.8%) recorded as the dominant working postures.
The most common locations of pain among women were: neck, lumbar region, bottom and thigh. And the most common locations of pain in men were, respectively: lumbar region, neck, bottom and thigh.
Moreover, no significant relationship was found between the history of spinal anesthesia and the prevalence of pain in the lumbar region (P value = 0.104). This lack of significance was also true about the regions of bottom and thigh (P value = 0.315).
20.9% of the statistical population was formed of the married people, with 43 of the total 49 suffering from backache in the last 12 months and 15 having to leave their workplace because of this pain. The findings suggest that being married increases the possibility of MSDs outbreak, especially in the lumbar region (P value = 0.0001).
Of 6 natural childbirths, 5 people had backache in the last 12 months, 4 of them as a result having to leave their workplace. With a level of significance P = 0.006 and the coefficient 0.232, it is possible to justify the prevalence of musculoskeletal pains in the lumbar region.