FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH WORK-RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS (WMSDs) AMONG COFFEE HARVESTERS IN DOI CHAANG COFFEE FACTORY, MAE SUAI DISTRICT, CHIANG RAI, THAILAND

Abstract

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) cause great impact on health of the working population especially the unskilled labor such as farmers and low-income workers. However, in Thailand, only a few epidemiological studies investigated the risk factors related to WMSDs in farmers. This cross-sectional study aims to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with WMSDs among 272 coffee harvesters in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The questionnaire was adapted from Standard Nordic Questionnaire and face to face interview was done with the eligible participants. Descriptive statistic was used to find the prevalence and binary logistic regression was use to find the association between risk factors and WMSDs. The results were given that the prevalence of 7 days and 12 months WMSDs were 79.4% and 81.6% respectively with the most prevalence pain in the regions of neck, shoulder and wrist. The risk factors that significantly associated with 7 days WMSDs were age (OR=2.47, 95% CI=1.01-1.08), smoking (OR=2.85, 95% CI=1.22-7.36) and stress (OR=2.84, 95% CI=1.44-6.00), while the risk factors that associated with 12 months WMSDs were only age (OR=2.17, 95% CI=1.10-4.32) and stress (OR=2.49, 95% CI=1.26-4.95). The postures which significantly associated with the pain in nine body regions were twisting body, lifting arms above shoulder for long time, and carrying heavy object. The outcome of this study indicated that there was high prevalence of WMSDs among coffee harvesters and the individual, psychosocial and work-related factors were all associated with the disorders. The factory and health care providers in the village should demonstrate the correct working postures for harvesters and should pay more attentions to the group of people who were at risk. More studies should be done to help us understand the cause and impact of WMSDs, so that successful prevention program could be done in the future to protect WMSDs.