Department of Surgery and Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Milano-Bicocca, Program in Physical Therapy, Istituti Clinici Zucchi, Piazza Madonnina, 1-20841 Carate Brianza, MB, Italy.
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2014 Apr 4;15:118. doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-15-118.
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are among the most common pathologies in the general population. However, research into the prevalence of upper arm MSDs is hampered by a lack of uniformity in case definition, and by the absence of a gold standard for measurement. Furthermore, some sectors of the population have benefited from extensive research whilst others have largely been ignored.
Cross-sectional study.
to investigate the prevalence of shoulder MSDs in a working age female population not exposed to specific occupational risk factors such as heavy and/or repetitive work, assessing the differences in prevalence recorded by using three different standard measurement tools.
302 working aged women were enrolled in this study (age 20-55 years). Each subject underwent three different assessments: standardized questionnaires for symptoms and disability and the SF36 health survey, a clinical assessment performed by a blinded orthopaedic specialist, and an imaging assessment by means of ultrasound (US) and Magnetic Resonance (MR) if indicated.
According to the questionnaire 77 subjects (25.5%) complained of shoulder pain whilst 225 (74.5%) were asymptomatic. According to the clinical examination, 31 subjects (10.3%) resulted positive, whereas 271 subjects (89.7%) had normal shoulders. According to the imaging findings, 26 subjects (8.6%) had alterations to the anatomical structures of the shoulder, whilst 276 subjects (91.4%) had no detectable abnormalities in either shoulder. In all assessments, the prevalence increased with age (p = 0.001).
Depending on the outcome measure used, the prevalence of reported MSDs of the shoulder varies considerably. There is a striking difference between the prevalence of subjective reported symptoms and the standardized clinical/imaging examinations. However, the results of all the assessments did concur in one aspect; there was a significant trend of increased prevalence of shoulder MSDs with age. When looking at reported prevalence, this study shows the importance of noting the measurement method used before making comparisons, as it can vary considerably. The epidemic of shoulder pain reported is not indicative of an epidemic of shoulder pathology.
肌肉骨骼疾病（MSD）是普通人群中最常见的疾病之一。然而，由于病例定义缺乏统一性，以及缺乏测量的金标准，因此对上臂 MSD 的流行情况的研究受到了阻碍。此外，一些人群受益于广泛的研究，而其他人群则在很大程度上被忽视。
横断面研究。
调查未接触特定职业危险因素（如繁重和/或重复性工作）的工作年龄女性人群中肩部 MSD 的患病率，使用三种不同的标准测量工具评估记录的患病率差异。
本研究纳入了 302 名工作年龄的女性（年龄 20-55 岁）。每位受试者接受了三种不同的评估：症状和残疾的标准化问卷和 SF36 健康调查、由一位盲法矫形专家进行的临床评估以及如果需要则通过超声（US）和磁共振（MR）进行的影像学评估。
根据问卷，77 名受试者（25.5%）抱怨肩部疼痛，而 225 名（74.5%）无症状。根据临床检查，31 名受试者（10.3%）呈阳性，而 271 名受试者（89.7%）肩部正常。根据影像学结果，26 名受试者（8.6%）肩部解剖结构发生改变，而 276 名受试者（91.4%）双侧肩部无明显异常。在所有评估中，患病率随年龄增长而增加（p=0.001）。
根据所使用的结果测量方法，肩部 MSD 的报告患病率差异很大。主观报告的症状与标准化临床/影像学检查之间存在显著差异。然而，所有评估的结果在一个方面一致；肩部 MSD 的患病率随年龄增长呈显著上升趋势。在观察报告的患病率时，本研究表明在进行比较之前注意使用的测量方法的重要性，因为它可能有很大差异。报告的肩部疼痛流行情况并不表明肩部病理学的流行。
