Employment and occupational outcomes of workers with musculoskeletal pain in a French region

OBJECTIVES: To study the employment and occupational outcomes of workers who were diagnosed with upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (UL-MSDs) or had complained of upper limb musculoskeletal pain a few years before compared with workers who had no upper limb pain. METHODS: In 2002-2005, an epidemiological surveillance system was set up. Occupational physicians examined 3710 randomly selected workers. It focused on six UL-MSDs: rotator cuff syndrome, lateral epicondylitis, flexor-extensor peritendinitis of the hands and fingers, de Quervain\u27s disease, carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar tunnel syndrome. Three groups were constituted: a \u27UL-MSD\u27 group (workers with a clinically diagnosed UL-MSD at baseline, 13% of the cohort); a \u27PAIN\u27 group (workers with pain in the previous 7 days at baseline and without any clinically diagnosed form, 38%); and a \u27HEALTHY\u27 group (workers with no disorder or upper limb pain in the previous 7 days, 49%). They completed a questionnaire between 2007 and 2009. RESULTS: A total of 2332 responded. Fewer subjects were still in work in the \u27UL-MSD\u27 group (79.3%) than in the \u27PAIN\u27 (85.9%) and \u27HEALTHY\u27 (90.4%) groups, the difference remaining significant after adjusting for gender, age, occupational category, type of company and comorbidities. Of the subjects still in work, 24% had changed their work station in the same company in the \u27PAIN\u27 group compared with 19% in the \u27HEALTHY\u27 group and 21% in the \u27UL-MSD\u27 group. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the impact of musculoskeletal pain on employment outcome and the difficulty of keeping workers with musculoskeletal problems at work