Musculoskeletal symptoms in Swedish dairy farmers

In this study a screening of musculoskeletal problems in Swedish dairy farmers was carried out using information on self-reported symptoms, personal characteristics and work conditions collected in a comprehensive mail-in survey. The size and the origin of the study population and the magnitude of the participation is assumed to justify characterizing the data set as representative of the better part of active Swedish dairy farmers. Univariate and multivariate models were employed to estimate odds-ratios for different symptoms and to test the predictive power of a series of factors and combinations of factors. The analysis is based on the 2 087 male and 920 female respondents who were less than or equal to 64 years old and milked more than five cows. In all, 82% of the men and 86% of the women reported some kind of symptoms from the musculoskeletal system during the previous 12 month. Compared to reference data from other occupations, pain and discomfort among dairy farmers were especially frequent in the shoulders, elbows, lower back, hips and knees. In addition females reported severe problems with the wrists/hands. Males had significantly more problems with the lower back and knees than the females. The females who were on average lighter and shorter than the men, reported significantly more symptoms in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists/hands, upper back and hips than did the men. For each symptom a series of dichotomized quantitative and qualitative factors were used as independent variables in multivariate analyses. A limited number of significant associations were found and used to test hypotheses. It was concluded that strategies for both preventive and interventional measures referring to musculoskeletal complaints in dairy farmers must consider physical work place factors (buildings, tools, equipment) as well as personal and life style characteristics, such as gender, age, hight, body weight and leisure time activities.