Incidence and Prevalence of Upper-limb Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common work-related diseases. Frequently this association is thought to have a temporal cause-effect relation. The absence of accessible diagnostic criteria and ethological cause-effect demonstration are probably important reasons for the lack of good evidence data on these pathologies.

Objective: For these reasons, the authors aim to present a systematic review on prevalence and incidence of the upper limb WRMSD.

Methods: The survey was conducted for papers published between January 1st, 2000 and July 2012, according to the PRISMA statement (2009) guidelines.

Results: From the 2016 papers obtained, 94 met the qualitative selection criteria. From these 27 address upper-limb WRMSD, and 17 present data on prevalence or incidence on upper-limb musculoskeletal diseases, six of them with a control group. Annual incidence ranges from 0.08 to 6.3, and prevalence from 0.14 to 14.9. Rotator cuff syndrome among shoe industry workers, present the highest incidence, and cubital, radial or ulnar nerve entrapment, the highest prevalence among a miscellaneous group of workers.

Conclusions: More studies are needed to clarify the relation between work and WRMSD's, especially prospective investigations from different economic sectors and work activities, but with similar, reproducible and comparable methodologies.