KNEE MOMENT AT WORK - VALIDATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE BASED ON KNEE MOMENT IN WORKING LIFE

Classifications of occupations, such as those of the International Lab or Organization, have previously been constructed with respect to the physical strain and joint moment to be expected in conjunction in a pr ofession. To detect which occupational activities specifically induce high knee moments, we designed a questionnaire to analyze walking, kne e bending, climbing of stairs and ladders, and jumping during three co nsecutive 15-year exposure periods in the professional lives of 920 co nsecutive residents [329 men with a mean age of 72 (range 47-96) and 5 61 women with a mean age of 77 (range 47-96)] drawn from the populatio n records of the City of Malmo. The answers, classified into three cat egories with respect to knee joint moment, were compared with a classi fication of the occupations of all probands according to the same prin ciples by three independent specialists in industrial hygiene. The two classifications showed a high degree of agreement, with Cramer's TI r anging from 0.49 to 0.6, suggesting a co-variance with a common variab le, i.e. the true work-related knee moment.