Prevalence of Pain and Its Risk Factors Among ICU Personnel in Tertiary Hospital in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Although pain is commonly observed among medical staff, studies on pain among intensive care unit personnel are uncommon, especially intensive care unit (ICU) doctors and workers. Moreover, few studies have focused on the prevalence of pain and the associated factors. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of pain among ICU personnel (including doctors, nurses and workers) and explore the risk factors for their pain. METHODS: We conducted an online survey that included sociodemographic and work-related items and questions about pain, ergonomics, and psychological factors. We used the short version of the validated Depression–Anxiety–Stress Scale (DASS-21) to assess the relationship between pain and mental disorders. All ICU personnel at West China Hospital of Sichuan University participated in this study. RESULTS: A total of 356 ICU personnel were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of pain was 72.2% among ICU nurses, 64.4% among ICU doctors and 52.9% among ICU workers. The most frequent location of pain was the lower back among nurses (65.9%) and workers (47.1%) and the neck among doctors (49.1%). The factors contributing to pain among ICU personnel were bending or twisting the neck, high levels of psychological fatigue, low self-perceived health status, female sex and high body mass index (BMI). Moreover, participants with pain indicated significantly higher depression (p ≤ 0.001), anxiety (p ≤ 0.001), and stress levels (p = 0.002) than those without pain. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that ICU personnel exhibit a high prevalence of pain. Many factors, especially psychosocial and ergonomic factors, contribute to pain levels among ICU personnel and the poorer mental health levels observed in those experiencing pain. Therefore, disease prevention and health promotion measures are needed to protect the health of ICU personnel.