Prevalence and risk factors of lateral epicondylitis among restaurant cooks at district Gujranwala: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To determine the prevalence of epicondylitis among restaurant cooks in Gujranwala, Pakistan. Methodology: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we included 60 male professional cooks aged 20-65 with convenient sampling from 10 different renowned restaurants in the District Gujranwala, Pakistan from March to August 2019. We used a self-administrated, patient-rated tennis elbow evaluation (PRTEE) questionnaire to estimate risk factors and work activities of the chefs. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: The age distribution was between 20-35 years. About 78.3% of cooks work for more than 8 hours/ day. Cozen’s test was positive among 40% who were predominantly suffering from tennis elbow. The prevalence was 66.7%, We found that 63.3% cooks were non-smokers and 20% had diabetes and 23.3% hypertension. Conclusion: The frequency of repetitive workload is prevalent in the chefs. Long working hours were important physical factors that should be taken into account when developing preventive strategies.