Abstract
Objective:
to describe the quality of life (QOL) of workers with repetitive strain injury/work-related musculoskeletal disorders (RSI/WMSD) and/or occupational low back pain (LBP) attended at the Centro de Referência em Saúde do Trabalhador [Workers' Health Reference Center] of Guarulhos, São Paulo, Brazil, and to verify if sociodemographic, occupational and clinical factors interfere on their QOL.
Methods:
descriptive cross-sectional study using the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) instrument and a structured interview. Data collected between 2011 and 2013.
Results:
192 individuals with RSI/WMSD and/or LBP participated. The average scores were lower for all WHOQOL-Bref domains when compared to the healthy population (p<0,001). Workers who had simultaneously RSI/WMSDS and LBP presented lower scores in the overall QOL and in physical, psychological and environmental domains. Workers with lower schooling had lower scores in the overall QOL, and those who were on sick leave had lower scores in the physical domain and in the overall QOL.
Conclusion:
due to the limitations of this study its results can only be applied to the subjects who were engaged in it. However, the results corroborate various studies that have demonstrated the deleterious effects of musculoskeletal disorders and other chronic diseases on the affected individuals' QOL.
Keywords:
occupational health; quality of life; cumulative trauma disorders; low back pain