The relationship between individual, physical and psychosocial risk factors with musculoskeletal disorders and related disabilities in flight security personnel

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between individual, physical and psychosocial risk factors with musculoskeletal disorders and related disability in flight security personnel. Methods. The study was conducted among 316 employees in Iran flight security. To study the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, lifestyle, occupational stress, mental workload and disability, the Cornell questionnaire, Walker lifestyle questionnaire, job content questionnaire, NASA task load index and pain disability questionnaire were used, respectively. Data were analyzed using independent-sample t test, one-way analysis of variance, χ² test and multiple logistic regression. Results. A total 68.35% of participants had musculoskeletal disorders in at least one of their body parts. There was a significant relationship between the parameters of increased age, higher work experience, high body mass index, gender and educational level and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Also, some components related to healthy lifestyle, occupational stress and mental workload had significant association with mentioned disorders (p  < 0.05). Conclusion. The parameters of lifestyle, occupational stress and mental workload are among the most important risk factors for the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and related disabilities in flight security personnel. Therefore, corrective measures through controlling individual, physical and psychosocial risk factors are necessary.

Keywords:

• musculoskeletal disorders
• occupational stress
• mental workload
• lifestyle
• flight security personnel

Acknowledgements

This article is the result of a research project sponsored by Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences. Therefore, the authors would like to express their special thanks to Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences for financial support as well as the Iranian flight security staff for their contribution to the present study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences [grant number IR.BMSU.REC.1397.311].