IC-0257
Work organizational risk factors for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: the French Pays de la Loire study
Y.Roquelaure1, E.Chazelle2, J.Bodin1, S.Caroly3, A.Descatha4, A.Petit1
1Laboratory of ergonomics and epidemiology in occupational health (LEEST), LUNAM
University, University of Angers; CHU, Angers, France, 2Department of Occupational Health, National Institute for Public health Surveillance, Saint Maurice, France, 3PACTE, University Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, 4Population-Based Epidemiological Cohorts Unit, UMS 011, INSERM, Université de Versailles St-Quentin, Villejuif, France
Keywords: MSDs, Carpal tunnel syndrome, Work organization Introduction:
To examine the risk factors for incident carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in workers representative of a French region’s working population, with a special focus on factors related to work
organization.
Methods:
In 2002-2005, 3,710 workers were assessed and, in 2007-2010, 1,611 were re-examined. At baseline all completed a self-administered questionnaire about personal/medical factors and work exposure. CTS symptoms and physical examination signs were assessed by a standardized medical examination at baseline and follow-up. Associations between incident symptomatic cases of CTS, personal/medical factors and work-related organizational, biomechanical and psychosocial risk factors at baseline were analysed using logistic regression.
Results:
Fifty-nine incident cases of “symptomatic CTS” were diagnosed (3.9% [2.9-4.8]) among the 1,532 workers without CTS at baseline. The risk of “symptomatic CTS” was higher for women (OR = 2.9 [1.7-5.2]) and increased linearly with age (OR = 1.04 [1.00-1.07] for 1-year
increment). Two characteristics of the work organization remained in the multivariate risk model after adjustment for the personal/medical and biomechanical factors: payment on a piecework basis (OR=2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.5) and work pace dependent on automatic rate (OR=1.9, 95% CI 0.9-4.1). Similar associations were observed for CTS defined by symptoms and signs on physical examination: payment on a piecework basis (OR=3.0, 95% CI 1.5-5.9) and work pace dependent on automatic rate (OR=2.3, 95% CI 1.0-5.6).
Discussion:
This prospective study showed that several factors related to work organization were associated with the incidence of "symptomatic CTS" after adjustment for potential confounders. This finding will be discussed in reference to a multidimensional and multilevel model for CTS highlighting the role played not only by proximal risk factors for CTS, such as personal and biomechanical factors, but also more "distal" factors related to the work organization and the socio-technical characteristics of the company.
ICOH 31st International Congress on Occupational Health