David P. Gilkey

Psychosocial Factors and Low Back Pain Among College Students

Objective and Participants: The authors evaluated psychosocial factors of stress and their effects on the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) among a population of college students in a major university in Colorado. Methods: This was a nested cross-sectional study of 973 respondents who completed the National College Health Assessment survey. The authors evaluated a subset of questions pertaining to psychosocial stressors against the presence of LBP. Results: The annual prevalence of LBP among the population studied was 42.8%. The stressful psychosocial variables of feeling very sad, exhausted, and overwhelmed were associated with the prevalence of LBP. Conclusions: The prevalence of LBP among this younger population is significant and understudied.

The Association of Self-Reported Backpack Use and Backpack Weight With Low Back Pain Among College Students

OBJECTIVE Back pain has consistently ranked among the top general health complaints among college students, but few studies have examined risk factors for back pain in this age group. This cross-sectional survey evaluated the association between the self-reported annual low back pain with the estimated usual backpack weight among college students. METHODS Data were collected from health education students during the spring semester of 2007 at the Colorado State University using an online survey. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression. RESULTS Four hundred sixty-five (94.6%) health education students completed the online survey. The annual prevalence of low back pain was 29.2% (n = 136). A 25% increase in the odds of annual low back pain for each 4-kg increase in the estimated usual backpack weight was observed after adjusting for sex, smoking, reporting frequently feeling overwhelmed, and body mass index (adjusted odds ratio per 4-kg increase, 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.32). There was no evidence of an increased association of annual low back pain with carrying a backpack weight greater than 10% of the students body weight compared with those carrying less (adjusted odds ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval, 0.63-1.65). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that increasing reported backpack weight is associated with increased prevalence of annual low back pain. However, these results do not provide evidence to support the recommendation that the backpack weight necessarily be less than 10% of body weight.

Risk Factors Associated With Back Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study of 963 College Students

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate standard measures of health behavior for association with back pain among college students using data from the standardized National College Health Assessment survey. This investigation evaluated potential risk factors among a population of students at a Colorado university. METHODS This cross-sectional study included 963 survey results that were assessed using backward selection logistic regression techniques to evaluate the associations between common college-life health behaviors and back pain occurrence within the past school year. RESULTS Thirty-eight percent of college students surveyed reported having back pain within the past school year. Investigators found that univariate associations included multiple domains, but only psychosocial factors remained statistically significant in a final regression model and were associated with back pain. Feeling chronically fatigued (odds ratio, 3.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-13.86) and being in an emotionally abusive relationship (odds ratio, 2.78; 95% confidence interval, 1.69-4.57) were the factors most strongly associated with back pain in the final model. CONCLUSIONS Psychosocial factors were identified to be associated with back pain. The prevalence of back pain among this younger population is of significant concern and warrants further investigation to identify contributing factors that may help in the development of interventions to reduce the epidemic of back pain within college students and lessen the burden upon college health providers.

Prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome among dairy workers

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) among dairy workers. METHODS Sixty-six dairy parlor workers and 58 non-parlor workers at dairies in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado participated in structured interviews regarding demographics, work history, and hand symptoms. All participants had nerve conduction studies performed on both hands across the carpal tunnel. A CTS case definition was based on the presence of characteristic CTS symptoms and an abnormal median mononeuropathy across the carpal tunnel. RESULTS The prevalence of CTS among the dairy parlor workers was 16.6% and 3.6% among non-parlor workers. The difference was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.05) with an odds ratio of 5.3, CI (1.1-25.5). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study indicate that CTS is a significant challenge for dairy parlor workers. The prevalence of CTS was found to be significantly higher among dairy workers performing tasks in the milking parlor as opposed to workers performing tasks in other areas of the dairy farm. The results emphasize the need for administrative and engineering controls to limit the exposure to physical risk factors that are associated with upper limb disorders such as CTS.

Comparative Analysis of Safety Culture Perceptions among HomeSafe Managers and Workers in Residential Construction

AbstractConstruction workers continue to experience high rates of injury and illness compared with many other industries. Growing evidence suggests that safety culture has a direct effect on safety performance. This study investigated measures of safety culture and risk perception among a residential-home-building cohort within the HomeSafe Pilot Program in the Denver metro area of Colorado. Investigators compared group-level responses of management to frontline construction workers. Results indicate that managers appraised the overall safety culture at higher levels compared with the workers. Managers also perceived a higher level of management commitment to safety and health than that reported by workers.

Evaluation and Quantification of Manual Materials Handling Risk Factors

This study investigated the ability of the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation (RNLE) to measure the risk of low back injury as verified by employee health outcomes. In addition, several basic risk factors and combinations of risk factors presumed related to low back disorders were explored. The RNLE was modified to allow analysis of one-handed and two-handed, asymmetric lifts. Predictive performance was not changed. Simplifying the RNLE by removing several variables did not significantly reduce the RNLE’s predictive performance. These modifications to the RNLE show promise for increasing both the usability and utility of the RNLE.

Low Back Pain Among Residential Carpenters: Ergonomic Evaluation Using OWAS and 2D Compression Estimation

Occupational low back pain (LBP) remains a leading safety and health challenge. This cross-sectional investigation measured the prevalence of LBP in residential carpenters and investigated ergonomic risk factors. Ninety-four carpenters were investigated for LBP presence and associated risk factors. Ten representative job-tasks were evaluated using the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) and ErgoMaster™ 2D software to measure elements of posture, stress, and risk. Job-tasks were found to differ significantly for total lumbar compression and shear at peak loading (p < .001), ranging from 2 956 to 8 606 N and 802 to 1 974 N respectively. OWAS indicated that slight risk for injury was found in 10 job-tasks while distinct risk was found in 7 of the 10 job-tasks. Seven of the 10 job-tasks exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) action limit of 3 400 N for low back loading. The point prevalence for LBP was 14% while the annual prevalence was 38%.

Construction work practices and conditions improved after 2-years' participation in the HomeSafe pilot program.

This study reevaluated changes in job-site safety audit scores for a cohort of residential construction workers that had protracted exposure to the HomeSafe pilot program for 2(1/2) years. The investigation was a repeated measure of a cohort study underway in the six-county metro area of Denver, Colo. The larger study was a longitudinal, quasi-experimental design with a cohort of residential construction workers within the HomeSafe strategic partnership between Occupational Safety and Health Administration Region VIII and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver (HBA). Audits were conducted on residential construction sites. Study subjects were construction workers employed by partner or control companies within the study. Repeated measures of 41 companies showed significant improvement (p=.01) in audit scores, increasing from 71.8 to 76.8 after 2(1/2) years in the program. HomeSafe companies out-performed controls (p=.01) for both the retest group and previously unaudited HomeSafe companies. Prolonged exposure in the HomeSafe pilot program resulted in improved audit scores for companies within the program for at least 2 years.

The HomeSafe Pilot Program: a novel approach to injury prevention in residential construction

Workers in the residential construction industry face unacceptably high risk of injury, disability and death. Attempts to implement comprehensive health and safety programs in this industry have met with little success. The HomeSafe Pilot Program is a novel residential construction safety program developed and sponsored by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Region VIII and the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Denver (HBA). Test subjects represent over 7475 persons employed in residential construction in the six county Denver Metro area of Colorado. The HomeSafe Pilot Program includes primary behavioral, engineering and administrative interventions to improve safe work practices in residential construction. It has some unique features of brevity, specificity and incentives not seen elsewhere in the construction industry. Its overall goal is to guide residential construction companies along a path of progressive development of comprehensive safety and health programs. The HomeSafe Pilot Program is introduced and compared to other safety and health program models developed by OSHA and the HBA. This study began in January 1997 and will continue through the millennium.

Development of an on-site, behavior-based safety audit for the residential construction industry

The purpose of this study was to describe the development and implementation of an on-site, behavior-based safety audit based on a safety program designed specifically to reduce injuries and fatalities in the residential construction industry. The audit was used to assess safety hazards and safety compliance on residential construction work sites. Safety behaviors were scored as all-or-none. A high score was related to high safety compliance. A total of 195 audits were performed on residential construction companies from varying trades. Analysis of mean total scores indicated that companies that had received some form of safety training scored significantly higher than companies that had not received any (P<0.01). Analysis of mean total scores between company trades indicated that masonry/stucco application companies had significantly lower scores than most other trades represented (P<0.01). Challenges in designing, administering and analyzing the safety audits are discussed.