Strazdins Lyndall, Bammer Gabriele
National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, ACT 0200, Canberra, Australia.
Soc Sci Med. 2004 Mar;58(6):997-1005. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(03)00260-0.
Why are employed women at increased risk for upper limb musculoskeletal disorders and what can this tell us about the way work and family life shape health? Despite increases in women's labour force participation, gender differences in work-related health conditions have received little research attention. This appears be the first study to examine why employed women are much more likely than men to experience upper body musculoskeletal disorders. A mailed self-report survey gathered data from 737 Australian Public Service employees (73% women). The majority of respondents were clerical workers (73%). Eighty one per cent reported some upper body symptoms; of these, 20% reported severe and continuous upper body pain. Upper body musculoskeletal symptoms were more prevalent and more severe among women. The gender difference in symptom severity was explained by risk factors at work (repetitive work, poor ergonomic equipment), and at home (having less opportunity to relax and exercise outside of work). Parenthood exacerbated this gender difference, with mothers reporting the least time to relax or exercise. There was no suggestion that women were more vulnerable than men to pain, nor was there evidence of systematic confounding between perceptions of work conditions and reported health status. Changes in the nature of work mean that more and more employees, especially women, use computers for significant parts of their workday. The sex-segregation of women into sedentary, repetitive and routine work, and the persisting gender imbalance in domestic work are interlinking factors that explain gender differences in musculoskeletal disorders.
为什么职业女性患上肢肌肉骨骼疾病的风险会增加，这又能让我们对工作和家庭生活影响健康的方式有何了解？尽管女性劳动力参与率有所提高，但与工作相关的健康状况中的性别差异却很少受到研究关注。这似乎是第一项探究为何职业女性比男性更易患上半身肌肉骨骼疾病的研究。一项邮寄式自我报告调查收集了737名澳大利亚公共服务部门员工（73%为女性）的数据。大多数受访者是文职人员（73%）。81%的人报告有一些上半身症状；其中，20%报告有严重且持续的上半身疼痛。上半身肌肉骨骼症状在女性中更为普遍和严重。工作中的风险因素（重复性工作、人体工程学设备不佳）和家庭中的风险因素（工作之余放松和锻炼的机会较少）解释了症状严重程度上的性别差异。为人父母加剧了这种性别差异，母亲们报告说放松或锻炼的时间最少。没有迹象表明女性比男性对疼痛更敏感，也没有证据表明工作条件认知与报告的健康状况之间存在系统性混淆。工作性质的变化意味着越来越多的员工，尤其是女性，在工作日的很大一部分时间使用电脑。女性集中在久坐、重复和常规工作中，以及家务劳动中持续存在的性别不平衡，这些相互关联的因素解释了肌肉骨骼疾病中的性别差异。
