Pienimäki Tuomo
Oulu Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Finland.
Int J Circumpolar Health. 2002 May;61(2):173-82. doi: 10.3402/ijch.v61i2.17450.
The aim of this study was to investigate how cold exposure may be associated with musculoskeletal problems either on symptomatic or disease level based on available relevant scientific literature. The data collection resulted in ten scientific articles, from which nine were epidemiological and one a case report consisting of three cases. The results indicated that musculoskeletal symptoms are more frequent in cold store work and in related conditions than in normal temperature work and symptoms seems to be increased when the working time in cold environment increases. In cold store work low back pain and knee pain are more frequent problems than in normal temperature working environment. The association between cold exposure and shoulder pain is still unclear and has been poorly studied. Meteorological conditions, principally low ambient temperature may have an effect of reported low back pain in a remarkable part of population. In the etiology of tenosynovitis cold exposure has a specific role either as a causative or a contributing factor. The risk for carpal tunnel disease is 2.2-fold in repetitive wrist movements compared with no repetition and 9.4-fold when cold exposure added. Cold exposure in work seems to be is associated with a little increased risk (Odds ratio 2.2) for degenerative discopathies of lower back in men. However, this risk is small and seems to be associated with other physical factors in the background. In conclusion, the associations between cold exposure and musculoskeletal complaints or diseases are shown in some studies and the need of further research is apparent.
本研究的目的是基于现有相关科学文献，调查寒冷暴露在症状或疾病层面上如何与肌肉骨骼问题相关联。数据收集得到了十篇科学文章，其中九篇是流行病学研究，一篇是包含三个病例的病例报告。结果表明，冷库工作及相关环境中肌肉骨骼症状比常温工作中更常见，且当在寒冷环境中的工作时间增加时，症状似乎会加重。在冷库工作中，腰痛和膝关节疼痛比在常温工作环境中更常见。寒冷暴露与肩部疼痛之间的关联仍不明确，且研究较少。气象条件，主要是低环境温度，可能在相当一部分人群中对报告的腰痛有影响。在腱鞘炎的病因中，寒冷暴露作为致病或促成因素具有特定作用。与无重复动作相比，重复性手腕动作时腕管疾病的风险高2.2倍，而加上寒冷暴露时则高9.4倍。工作中的寒冷暴露似乎与男性下背部退行性椎间盘疾病的风险略有增加（优势比为2.2）相关。然而，这种风险很小，且似乎与背景中的其他身体因素有关。总之，一些研究显示了寒冷暴露与肌肉骨骼不适或疾病之间的关联，进一步研究的必要性显而易见。
