Abstract
Objective:
to estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and their main risk factors in shellfish pickers from a fishing community in the state of Bahia, Brazil.
Methods:
cross-sectional descriptive epidemiological study, with data collected in 2017 and a descriptive statistical analysis.
Results:
we interviewed 139 women, aged 44.3 on average: 66.9% were married, 89.2% had brown[parda]/black skin color, 93.5% had children, 57.6% did not conclude elementary school, and had an average monthly income of R$ 234.00 (less than US$ 60.00). They had been working for up to 30 years in this occupation (58.3%), with a daily working time of up to 6 hours (54.0%), without lunch break (89.9%), carrying up to 25kg during a working day (57.6%), for up to 60 minutes (73.5%). They rated their working conditions as very bad or bad (60.4%). All of them reported musculoskeletal pain, especially in the back region. The risk factors evidenced were: excessive movement, long working hours with overburden of the upper limbs, lack of rest and fast-paced work.
Conclusion:
shellfish pickers are exposed to risk factors that predispose them to repetitive strain injuries and work-related musculoskeletal disorders, which may explain the high prevalence observed.
Keywords:
public health surveillance; occupational health; musculoskeletal system; working women; epidemiology, descriptive