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Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers

OBJECTIVES: Limited knowledge exists about day-to-day changes in physical and mental symptoms in warehouse and construction workers. This study investigated the associations between consecutive workdays and days off with low back pain (LBP) intensity, bodily fatigue and mental stress. METHODS: Parti...

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Autores principales: Bláfoss, Rúni, Aagaard, Per, Clausen, Thomas, Andersen, Lars L
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37833070
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2023-109043
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author Bláfoss, Rúni
Aagaard, Per
Clausen, Thomas
Andersen, Lars L
author_facet Bláfoss, Rúni
Aagaard, Per
Clausen, Thomas
Andersen, Lars L
author_sort Bláfoss, Rúni
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: Limited knowledge exists about day-to-day changes in physical and mental symptoms in warehouse and construction workers. This study investigated the associations between consecutive workdays and days off with low back pain (LBP) intensity, bodily fatigue and mental stress. METHODS: Participants (n=224) received daily questions for 21 days about LBP, fatigue, stress (outcome, 0–10 scales), and workdays and days off (exposure). We tested associations between 1–3 workdays (n=148) and 1–2 days off (n=158) with LBP intensity, bodily fatigue and mental stress after work and the following morning using linear mixed models with repeated measures controlling for relevant confounders. RESULTS: Consecutive workdays led to progressively increased LBP intensity, with three workdays increasing LBP intensity by 1.76 (95% CI 1.48 to 2.03) points. Bodily fatigue and mental stress increased after one workday (2.06 (95% CI 1.80 to 2.32) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.17) points, respectively) and remained stable for three workdays. After 1 day off, bodily fatigue and mental stress decreased −1.82 (95% CI −2.03 to −1.61) and −0.88 (95% CI −1.05 to −0.71) points, respectively, without decreasing further. In contrast, LBP intensity decreased progressively −1.09 (95% CI −1.27 to −0.91) and −1.45 (95% CI −1.67 to −1.24) points after 1 and 2 days off, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Workdays and days off affected the outcome variables differently. LBP intensity progressively increased with consecutive workdays, while workers needed 2 days off to recover. This study provides valuable knowledge about how to organise the workweek to prevent LBP, fatigue and stress, potentially reducing labour market withdrawal.
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spelling pubmed-106469182023-11-15 Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers Bláfoss, Rúni Aagaard, Per Clausen, Thomas Andersen, Lars L Occup Environ Med Workplace OBJECTIVES: Limited knowledge exists about day-to-day changes in physical and mental symptoms in warehouse and construction workers. This study investigated the associations between consecutive workdays and days off with low back pain (LBP) intensity, bodily fatigue and mental stress. METHODS: Participants (n=224) received daily questions for 21 days about LBP, fatigue, stress (outcome, 0–10 scales), and workdays and days off (exposure). We tested associations between 1–3 workdays (n=148) and 1–2 days off (n=158) with LBP intensity, bodily fatigue and mental stress after work and the following morning using linear mixed models with repeated measures controlling for relevant confounders. RESULTS: Consecutive workdays led to progressively increased LBP intensity, with three workdays increasing LBP intensity by 1.76 (95% CI 1.48 to 2.03) points. Bodily fatigue and mental stress increased after one workday (2.06 (95% CI 1.80 to 2.32) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.17) points, respectively) and remained stable for three workdays. After 1 day off, bodily fatigue and mental stress decreased −1.82 (95% CI −2.03 to −1.61) and −0.88 (95% CI −1.05 to −0.71) points, respectively, without decreasing further. In contrast, LBP intensity decreased progressively −1.09 (95% CI −1.27 to −0.91) and −1.45 (95% CI −1.67 to −1.24) points after 1 and 2 days off, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Workdays and days off affected the outcome variables differently. LBP intensity progressively increased with consecutive workdays, while workers needed 2 days off to recover. This study provides valuable knowledge about how to organise the workweek to prevent LBP, fatigue and stress, potentially reducing labour market withdrawal. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-11 2023-10-13 /pmc/articles/PMC10646918/ /pubmed/37833070 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2023-109043 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Workplace
Bláfoss, Rúni
Aagaard, Per
Clausen, Thomas
Andersen, Lars L
Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title_full Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title_fullStr Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title_full_unstemmed Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title_short Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
title_sort effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers
topic Workplace
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10646918/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37833070
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2023-109043
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