Comparison Between Musculoskeletal Pain and Gender-Specific, Non-gendered Job-Exposure Matrix and Self-reported Exposures in CONSTANCES

Francesca Wuytack; Bradley A Evanoff; Ann Marie Dale; Fabien Gilbert; Marc Fadel; Annette Leclerc; Alexis Descatha

doi:10.1007/s10926-023-10148-w

Comparison Between Musculoskeletal Pain and Gender-Specific, Non-gendered Job-Exposure Matrix and Self-reported Exposures in CONSTANCES

J Occup Rehabil. 2023 Nov 6. doi: 10.1007/s10926-023-10148-w. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Francesca Wuytack¹, Bradley A Evanoff², Ann Marie Dale², Fabien Gilbert¹, Marc Fadel¹, Annette Leclerc³, Alexis Descatha^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ UMR_S 1085, IRSET-ESTER, SFR ICAT, CAPTV CDC, Univ Angers, CHU Angers, Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail), Angers, France.
² Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
³ Unité "Cohortes en Population" UMS 011 Inserm, Université de Paris, Villejuif, France.
⁴ UMR_S 1085, IRSET-ESTER, SFR ICAT, CAPTV CDC, Univ Angers, CHU Angers, Univ Rennes, Inserm, EHESP, Irset (Institut de recherche en santé, environnement et travail), Angers, France. alexis.descatha@inserm.fr.
⁵ Department of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology and Prevention, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine, Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, USA. alexis.descatha@inserm.fr.

PMID: 37932500
DOI: 10.1007/s10926-023-10148-w

Abstract

Purpose: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are common worldwide and gender differences exist in terms of prevalence and disability. MSDs are a leading cause of sick leave and physical work exposures. To assess the association between physical exposures assessed by the gender-specific CONSTANCES Job-Exposure Matrix (JEM) and musculoskeletal pain in six areas: neck pain, shoulder pain, elbow/arm pain, hand/wrist pain, low back pain, knee/leg pain; and to compare the results with those obtained using the non-gendered CONSTANCES JEM and with individual self-report exposures.

Methods: We included 48,736 male and 63,326 female workers from the CONSTANCES cohort (France). The association between 27 physical exposures and musculoskeletal self-reported pain in six body areas was assessed using logistic regression. We conducted the analysis with three types of exposures: (1) individual self-reported exposures; (2) gender-specific CONSTANCES JEM; (3) non-gendered CONSTANCES JEM, and adjusted for age and Body Mass Index (BMI). Analyses were stratified by gender.

Results: The associations to the gender-specific and non-gendered JEM were similar. The odds ratios using individual self-reported exposures were comparable to the JEM-based associations, with the exceptions of the exposures 'change tasks', 'rest eyes' and 'reach behind'. In some comparisons, there were differences in the direction and/or significance of effects between genders (regardless of whether the JEM used was gender-specific or not).

Conclusion: The gender-specific and non-gendered JEMs gave similar results, hence, developing physical work exposures JEMs that are gender-specific may not be essential. However, when predicting musculoskeletal pain, it seems relevant to stratify the analysis by gender.

Keywords: Elbow pain; Hand/wrist pain; Job exposures; Knee/leg pain; Low back pain; Musculoskeletal disorders; Neck pain; Physical work exposures; Shoulder pain.

Abstract

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