A Cross-sectional Study of Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Risk Factors in Cambodian Fruit Farm Workers in Eastern Region, Thailand

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are accumulative disorders that are most frequently found in agricultural farmers. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that affect symptoms resulting from work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Cambodian farm workers working in fruit plantations in the eastern region of Thailand.
Methods: The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment, and Hazard Zone Jobs Checklist techniques were used to interview 861 farmers who participated in the study.
Results: The data showed that men who had been working for >10 years were more at risk of neck pain than those working for <1 year with adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.90, 14.5). Among women those who had been working for >10 years experienced lower back pain with aOR 8.13, 95% CI (1.04, 63.74), compared with those who had been working for <1 year. Men whose tasks required raising the arms above shoulder height had a risk factor contributing to neck pain of aOR 1.68, 95% CI (1.08, 2.61) when compared with those who did not work with this posture, and women had aOR 1.82, 95% CI (1.07, 3.12) when compared with those who did not work with this posture.
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that work-related health conditions are monitored in migrant plantation workers to reduce the risks of musculoskeletal disorders.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Plykaew R, "Working posture and musculoskeletal disorders among rubber plantation workers" 40 : 1-10, 2013

2 Sauter S, "Work with display units" Elsevier Science 229-239, 1993

3 Zeng X, "Whole body vibration exposure patterns in Canadian Prairie farmers" 60 (60): 1064-1073, 2017

4 Department of Labor and Industries, "Washington state hazard zone checklist"

5 Samneang C, "The situation of migrant workers in Thailand" Institute for Public Policy Studies Chiang Mai University

6 Udon C, "The prevalence of low back pain and its associated factors in Thai rubber farmers" 58 (58): 534-542, 2016

7 Swangnetr M, "The influence of rice plow handles design and whole-body posture on grip force and upper-extremity muscle activation" 57 : 1526-1535, 2014

8 National Statistical Office, "The direction of labor Thailand"

9 Fillingim RB, "Sex, gender, and pain: a review of recent clinical and experimental findings" 10 : 447-485, 2009

10 Gijsbers van Wijk CMT, "Sex differences in physical symptoms: the contribution of symptom perception theory" 45 : 231-246, 1997

11 Ng YG, "Risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders among oil palm fruit har- vesters during early harvesting stage" 22 : 286-292, 2015

12 Highnett S, "Rapid entire body assessment (REBA)" 31 : 201-205, 2000

13 McAtamney L, "RULA: a survey method for the investigation of world-related upper limb disorders" 24 : 91-99, 1993

14 Meyers JM, "Priority risk factors for back injury in agricultural Field work: vine- yard ergonomics" 9 : 433-448, 2004

15 Vasanth D, "Prevalence, pattern, and factors associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders among pluckers in a tea plantation in Tamil Nadu, India" 19 : 167-170, 2015

16 Alghadir A, "Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in construction workers in Saudi Arabia" 2015 : 529873-, 2015

17 McMillan M, "Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among Saskatchewan farmers" 20 : 292-301, 2015

18 Keawduangdee P, "Prevalence of low back pain and asso- ciated factors among farmers during the rice transplanting process" 27 : 2239-2245, 2015

19 National Statistical Office, "Population and housing census year 2016"

20 National Statistical Office, "Population and housing census year 2010"

21 Chanprasit C, "Occupational health hazards, work- related illness and injury, work behaviors among informal workforce: case study in baby corn planting group" 5 : 40-50, 2010

22 Office of Foreign Workers Administration, "Number of foreigners allowed to work across the country"

23 Yoo IG, "Neck and shoulder muscle activation in farm workers performing simulated orchard work with and without neck support" 40 : 385-391, 2011

24 Fathallah FA, "Musculoskeletal disorders in labor-intensive agriculture" 41 : 738-743, 2010

25 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, "Musculoskeletal disorders and workplace factors"

26 Basher A, "Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) among agricultural workers" 24 : 1-8, 2015

27 Davis Mellar P, "Mechanisms of fatigue" 8 : 164-174, 2010

28 Solecki L, "Low back pain among farmers exposed to whole body vibration: a literature review" 62 : 187-202, 2011

29 Herquelot E, "Incidence of chronic and other knee pain in relation to occupational risk factors in a large working population" 59 : 797-811, 2015

30 Havrda JB, "Imaging of farm-related injuries" 85 : 163-183, 2013

31 Meyers JM, "High risk tasks for musculoskeletal disorders in agricultural field work" 2000

32 Sriwong N, "Health impacts from sugarcane growing on sugarcane farmers in Nongkungkeao Sub-district, Sriboonrung District, Nongbualamphu Province" 6 : 14-22, 2013

33 Von Essen SG, "Health and safety risks in production agriculture" 169 : 214-220, 1998

34 Murray CJ, "Global burden of disease and injury series, vol. II" Harvard School of Public Health 27-28, 1996

35 Das B, "Gender differences in prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among the rice farmers of West Bengal, India" 50 : 229-240, 2015

36 Lekcharoen N, "Factors influencing occupational risk behaviors among Thai and migrant fishery workers in Kohperit, Leamsing, Chantaburi province" 6 : 41-52, 2011

37 Hartmana E, "Exposure to physical risk factors in Dutch agriculture: effect on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders" 35 : 1031-1045, 2005

38 Madeleine P, "Experimental muscle pain changes the spatial distribution of upper trapezius muscle activity during sustained contraction" 117 : 2436-2445, 2006

39 Ng YG, "Ergonomics observation: harvesting tasks at oil palm plantation" 55 : 405-414, 2013

40 Meyers JM, "Ergonomics in agriculture: workplace priority setting in the nursery industry" 58 : 121-126, 1997

41 Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Ergonomics"

42 Vazquez-Cabrera FJ, "Ergonomic evaluation, with the RULA method, of greenhouse tasks of trellising crops" 54 : 517-531, 2016

43 KongYK, "Development of anergonomics checklist for investigation of work-related whole-body disorders in farmingdAWBA: agricultural whole-body assessment" 21 : 207-215, 2015

44 Kalra S, "Cross sectional survey of work related musculo- skeletal disorders and associated risk factors among female farmers in rural areas of Haryana, India" 10 : 149-154, 2016

45 Merletti R, "Basic concepts and applications of multichannel surface EMG. SlovenianeItalian workshop on quantitative needle and high resolution surface EMG" University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Division of Neurology

46 Sa-ngiamsak T, "Assessment of muscle fatigue in work related musculoskeletal disorders by high-density surface electromyography [Internet]" University of Porto 2016

47 Troiano A, "Assessment of force and fatigue in isometric contractions of the upper trapezius muscle by surface EMG signal and perceived exertion scale" 28 : 179-186, 2008

48 Merlett R, "Analysis of motor units with high-density surface electromyography" 18 : 879-890, 2008

49 International Labor Organization, "Agriculture"

50 McCurdy SA, "Agricultural injury in California migrant Hispanic farm workers" 44 : 225-235, 2003

51 Ergonomics Plus Inc., "A step-by-step guide Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)"

52 Hsieh FY, "A simple method of sample size calculation for linear and logistic regression" 17 : 1623-1634, 1998