PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG NATURAL GAS FIELD WORKERS

Document Type : Study paper

Authors

1 Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University

2 The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS)

Abstract

Introduction: Workers at natural gas fields are continuously exposed to numerous hazardous materials and working conditions that place them at continuous risk of injury or death. Aim of work: To study the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among workers in a natural gas field and the risk factors for it as well as relationship between the resultant health disorders and the working conditions. Materials and methods: a cross-sectional study carried out in “The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company “on 172 workers distributed into 109, 32 and 31 workers from Operational, Administrative
and Support services departments respectively. An equal number (172 subjects) waschosen randomly from the factory workers’ relatives as controls. All participants were ubjected to a pre-designed questionnaire fulfilling personal, ccupational history and clinical examination. Cases detected by clinical examination were subjected to radiological investigations ( X ray and MRI). Results: About 47.7 % of the workers had regional musculoskeletal pain. Low back pain was the most prevalent one (30.5%) followed by knee pain (17.1%). The percentage of musculoskeletal pain was
significantly higher among workers with over 9 years work duration (P=0.00). Of all workers with pain, abnormal findings detected in X ray accounted for 35.4% and those detected in MRI imaging were 40.2%. In MRI results, muscle affection was the most prevalent finding (39.4%). The highest rates of all of MSDs were found among workers in Operation department. Conclusion: Musculoskeletal manifestations were prevalent among studied workers. X ray and MRI results detected many cases with diseasesaffecting the joints and intervertebral discs that needed an urgent treatment.

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