Eltayeb Shahla, Staal J Bart, Kennes Janneke, Lamberts Petra H G, de Bie Rob A
Maastricht University, Department of Epidemiology and Caphri Research Institute, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2007 Jul 14;8:68. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-8-68.
Complaints of Arm Neck and Shoulder (CANS) represent a wide range of complaints, which can differ in severity from mild, periodic symptoms to severe, chronic and debilitating conditions. They are thought to be associated with both physical and psychosocial risk factors. The measurement and identification of the various risk factors for these complaints is an important step towards recognizing (a) high risk subgroups that are relevant in profiling CANS; and (b) also for developing targeted and effective intervention plans for treatment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of CANS in a Dutch population of computer workers and to develop a questionnaire aimed at measuring workplace physical and psychosocial risk factors for the presence of these complaints.
To examine potential workplace risk factors for the presence of CANS, the Maastricht Upper Extremity Questionnaire (MUEQ), a structured questionnaire, was developed and tested among 264 computer office workers of a branch office of the national social security institution in the Netherlands. The MUEQ holds 95 items covering demographic characteristics, in addition to seven main domains assessing potential risk factors with regard to (1) work station, (2) posture during work, (3) quality of break time, (4) job demands, (5) job control, and (6) social support. The MUEQ further contained some additional questions about the quality of the work environment and the presence of complaints in the neck, shoulder, upper and lower arm, elbow, hand and wrist. The prevalence rates of CANS in the past year were computed. Further, we investigated the psychometric properties of the MUEQ (i.e. factor structure and reliability).
The one-year prevalence rate of CANS indicated that 54% of the respondents reported at least one complaint in the arm, neck and/or shoulder. The highest prevalence rates were found for neck and shoulder symptoms (33% and 31% respectively), followed by hand and upper arm complaints (11% to 12%) and elbow, lower arm and wrist complaints (6% to 7%). The psychometric properties of the MUEQ were assessed using exploratory factor analysis which resulted in the identification of 12 factors. The calculation of internal consistency and cross validation provided evidence of reliability and lack of redundancy of items.
Neck and shoulder complaints are more frequently reported among Dutch computer workers than arm, elbow and hand complaints. The results further indicate that the MUEQ has satisfactory reliability and internal consistency when used to document CANS among computer workers in the Netherlands.
手臂、颈部和肩部不适（CANS）涵盖了广泛的不适症状，其严重程度差异很大，从轻微的周期性症状到严重的慢性致残状况不等。人们认为这些不适与身体和心理社会风险因素都有关。对这些不适的各种风险因素进行测量和识别，是识别（a）在CANS特征分析中相关的高风险亚组的重要一步；也是制定有针对性的有效治疗干预计划的重要一步。本研究的目的是调查荷兰计算机工作人群中CANS的患病率，并开发一份问卷，旨在测量这些不适存在时的工作场所身体和心理社会风险因素。
为了检查CANS存在的潜在工作场所风险因素，开发了马斯特里赫特上肢问卷（MUEQ），这是一份结构化问卷，并在荷兰国家社会保障机构一个分支机构的264名计算机办公室工作人员中进行了测试。MUEQ包含95个项目，涵盖人口统计学特征，此外还有七个主要领域，评估关于（1）工作站、（2）工作时的姿势、（3）休息时间质量、（4）工作要求、（5）工作控制和（6）社会支持的潜在风险因素。MUEQ还包含一些关于工作环境质量以及颈部、肩部、上臂、下臂、肘部、手部和腕部不适情况的附加问题。计算了过去一年中CANS的患病率。此外，我们调查了MUEQ的心理测量特性（即因子结构和信度）。
CANS的一年患病率表明，54%的受访者报告在手臂、颈部和/或肩部至少有一处不适。颈部和肩部症状的患病率最高（分别为33%和31%），其次是手部和上臂不适（11%至12%）以及肘部、下臂和腕部不适（6%至7%）。使用探索性因子分析评估了MUEQ的心理测量特性，结果识别出12个因子。内部一致性计算和交叉验证提供了信度证据以及项目无冗余的证据。
在荷兰计算机工作人群中，颈部和肩部不适的报告频率高于手臂、肘部和手部不适。结果还表明，当用于记录荷兰计算机工作人群中的CANS时，MUEQ具有令人满意的信度和内部一致性。
