The prevalence of locomotor complaints in middle age and their relationship to health and socioeconomic factors.

The prevalence and coincidence of symptoms or signs or both of degenerative changes in the back, shoulders, hips, and knees were analyzed in 575, 55-year-old residents of Malmö, Sweden, and the relationship of these complaints to smoking and alcohol habits, nervous problems, body weight, social background, intelligence test in 1938, education, job satisfaction, income, life success, employment, and occupational workload were analyzed. Back pain was the most common complaint--nearly 1/3--in men and women. Locomotor discomfort coincided more often and was more frequent in women. Overweight was related to knee and back complaints in men. Men with shoulder complaints were more often smokers. Men with knee complaints had higher levels of serum glutamyl-transferase, indicating a higher alcohol intake. Sleeping disturbances were more common in subjects with shoulder, back, and knee complaints. Subjects with moderate or heavy work loads had more locomotor complaints, particularly in the back, hips, and knees. Job dissatisfaction was the variable with the strongest independent relation to locomotor discomfort in both genders.