Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the upper extremity among the staff of a Japanese university hospital

The Hand20 is an outcome assessment tool developed in Japan to measure upper extremity disability. The purpose of this study was to investigate occupational musculoskeletal disorders in the upper extremity of hospital personnel and to obtain normative data for the Hand20 in a nonclinical population. A cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out among 2,600 researchers and staff members of the Faculty of Medicine and its affiliated hospital. There were 1,120 responders who went to their daily work without consulting a doctor about any upper extremity disorders, and 232 of these responders complained of upper extremity pain. The mean Hand20 score was 2.67 [standard deviation (SD) 7.06]. Women tended to have significantly higher total Hand20 scores than men (mean +/- A SD: men = 2.03 +/- A 5.15, women = 2.94 +/- A 7.71, p < 0.01). The Hand20 score tended to increase in participants over 40 years of age (p < 0.001). Significant differences were not found by work intensity (p = 0.712). Binominal logistic analysis revealed that the risk of a high Hand20 score (over the 75 % inter-quartile range, over 13.1) was greater with increasing age [odd ratios (ORs) 1.051, 1.071, respectively] and female sex (ORs 1.786, 1.966, respectively), and that the risk of upper extremity pain was greater with increasing age (OR 1.051), heavy physical work (OR 2.042), and physical work (OR 1.916). Females in all age groups and both sexes in middle age or older need to be informed about their higher risk of upper extremity disorders and should be educated about how to avoid work-related musculoskeletal disorders and their progression.