Occupational Medicine Advance Access published online on September 20, 2005
Occupational Medicine, doi:10.1093/occmed/kqi142
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Background Somatization (a tendency to report distress from somatic symptoms) is a little studied, but potentially important, confounder and effect modifier in occupational studies of musculoskeletal disease. Aims To assess the role of somatization as a risk factor for disabling regional pain. Methods A questionnaire was mailed to 4998 subjects of working age. Questions were asked about chronic and disabling pain in the past 12 months affecting the arm, low back, knee or combinations of these sites. Distress from physical symptoms was assessed using elements of the Brief Symptom Inventory and mental well-being was assessed using the short-form 36 (SF-36). Associations were examined by modified Cox regression and expressed as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results Among 2632 responders, 24% reported chronic pain and 25% disabling pain at one or several sites. Risk of chronic or disabling pain increased strongly according to the number of somatic symptoms reported as bothersome. For example, the HR for chronic upper limb pain in those distressed by Conclusion Somatizing tendency should be evaluated as a possible confounder or effect modifier in studies of occupational risk factors for musculoskeletal pain.
Article
Disabling musculoskeletal pain and its relation to somatization: a community-based postal survey
2 MRC Health Science Research Collaboration, Department of Social Medicine, Canynge Hall, Bristol, BS8 2PR, UK
Keith T. Palmer, E-mail: ktp{at}mrc.soton.ac.uk
Abstract 
2 somatic symptoms in the past 7 days versus none was 3.9 (95% CI 2.9-5.3), and that of disabling upper limb pain was 5.8 (95% CI 4.1-8.3). Similar patterns were found for the low back and knee, and there was a gradient of increasing risk according to the number of sites with disabling pain. In comparison, associations with SF-36 mental well-being score were weaker.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  I. Madan, I. Reading, K. T Palmer, and D. Coggon Cultural differences in musculoskeletal symptoms and disability Int. J. Epidemiol., October 1, 2008; 37(5): 1181 - 1189. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K T Palmer, I Reading, M Calnan, and D Coggon How common is repetitive strain injury? Occup. Environ. Med., May 1, 2008; 65(5): 331 - 335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K T Palmer, I Reading, M Calnan, C Linaker, and D Coggon Does knee pain in the community behave like a regional pain syndrome? Prospective cohort study of incidence and persistence Ann Rheum Dis, September 1, 2007; 66(9): 1190 - 1194. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Palmer, M Calnan, D Wainwright, C O'Neill, A Winterbottom, C Watkins, J Poole, and D Coggon Upper limb pain in primary care: health beliefs, somatic distress, consulting and patient satisfaction Fam. Pract., December 1, 2006; 23(6): 609 - 617. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|