Prevalence and predictors of musculoskeletal health complaints among sedentary, monotonous urban workers: A survey in Bangladesh

• Published in: PloS one 2023-04, Vol.18 (4), p.e0282922-e0282922
• Main Authors: Ali, Mohammad, Siddiq, Md Abu Bakar, Pranto, Nujaim Khan, Amran, Naheean Hossain, Akter, Marium, Munny, Marjan Akter, Hossain, Md Imran, Khan, Saffat Sabbir, Mehedi, Md Murad Hossain
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asthma; Back Pain; Backache; Bangladesh - epidemiology; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass; Body mass index; Body size; Complaints; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data collection; Diabetes; Disability; Disease prevention; Distribution; Drug abuse; Employees; Ethics; Exercise; Family income; Health aspects; Humans; Hypertension; Income; Informed consent; Interviews; Kidney diseases; Low back pain; Males; Medicine and Health Sciences; Musculoskeletal diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases - epidemiology; Neck pain; Neck Pain - epidemiology; Obesity; Occupational exposure; Occupational health; Overweight; Pain; People and Places; Physical fitness; Prevalence; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Sedentary behavior; Shoulder; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Surveys; Tobacco; Variables; Workers
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282922

Monotonous and sedentary work is significantly associated with the worst health of workers. There is a scarcity of data investigating the musculoskeletal health of sedentary workers working in low-income and middle-income settings. This study aimed to measure the prevalence and predictors of musculoskeletal health complaints (MHC) among Bangladeshi shopkeepers. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Data from 1553 Bangladeshi shopkeepers aged 18 years and above were analyzed. MHC was measured using the musculoskeletal subscale of the subjective health complaints scale. The descriptive analysis helped to compute MHC prevalence and compare the prevalence across groups. Regression analysis revealed the predictors of MHC for the shopkeepers. The prevalence of MHC among shopkeepers was 58.0%. The prevalence of low back pain was the highest (55.5%), followed by neck pain (48.0%) and upper back pain (43.5%). Regression analysis identified sex (aOR 1.301, CI 0.996 to 1.700), age (aOR 1.405, CI 1.047 to 1.886), body mass index (aOR 0.495, CI 0.397 to 0.617), and substance abuse (aOR 1.998, CI 1.136 to 3.514) as independent predictors of MHC among the shopkeepers. Furthermore, significantly higher odds of MHC have been found among tobacco users (OR 1.234, CI 1.009 to 1.510). This study revealed a high prevalence of MHC and unhealthy lifestyles among shopkeepers in Bangladesh. Shopkeepers should be provided with better health literacy to follow healthy lifestyles and prevent MHC among this cohort.