REPEATED SURVEY ON CHANGES IN MUSCULOSKELETAL COMPLAINTS RELATIVE TO AGE AND WORK DEMANDS

Objectives-To musculoskeletal years in groups of employees relative to age and work demands. Methods-Repeated questionnaire data of male emp loyees ire heavy physical work (exposed group, n=7324) and mental work (control group, n=4686), stratified for age (20-9, 30-9, 40-9, 50-9), were analysed. For each employee, data on the occurrence of musculosk eletal complaints from two surveys with a mean interval of around four years were available. Changes in prevalences over the follow up inter val were analysed. Proportions of new, recovered, and chronic cases as well as those free of complaints at both surveys were studied. Result s-For most complaints, there were significantly greater increases in p revalences in the exposed group compared with the control group over t he follow up interval particularly within the group aged 40-9 for back , neck, and several sires of the upper and lower limbs. The 20-9 year age group also had significantly greater changes for several musculosk eletal complaints. Within the oldest age group (50-9) exposure to heav y physical work demands only affected changes in prevalences of neck a nd upper arm complaints. After four years in the cohort free of compla ints at the start of the follow up the group aged 40-9 had the highest prevalence of complaints of the back, neck, and the upper and lower l imbs. Conclusions-Middle aged and younger employees develop musculoske letal complaints as a result of exposure to heavy physical work. In th e oldest age group health related selection seems to mask the occupati onal health risks under study To prevent the expected increase in musc uloskeletal disorders and related work disability in our aging workfor ce, preventive measures should be taken at all stages of a working lif e.