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Social position modifies the association between severe shoulder/arm and knee/leg pain, and quality of life after retirement

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Abstract

Purpose

Musculoskeletal disorders are extremely frequent and account for an important part of the global burden of disease. Risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders include sustained occupational exposure to physically demanding jobs. The effects of sustained occupational physical exposures on knee and shoulder pain are known to persist after retirement; also, several studies have shown a socio-economic gradient in health and quality-of-life outcomes, including for musculoskeletal pain. It is thus possible that prolonged occupational exposures affect workers differently in the long-term along a socio-economic gradient. This study was conducted to investigate whether the impacts of severe shoulder/arm and knee/leg pain on the quality of life of retired workers follow a socio-economic gradient.

Methods

Data from the French GAZEL cohort study (n = 14,249) were used to compare the impacts of severe shoulder/arm and knee/leg pain separately on the SF-36, Nottingham Health Profile and limitations in activities of daily living measured in 2006 and 2007, between four groups of social position (measured in 1989). Analyses were made in 2014 with multiple linear and logistic regressions and stratified by sex.

Results

For both pain sites, in men and women, there was a strong general tendency for the impacts of severe pain to be smaller among participants in higher social positions. Most important differences were related to pain and physical limitations.

Conclusions

These results suggest inequalities in the impacts of severe joint pain by socio-economic status. The source of these inequalities is still speculative and merits the scientific attention.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Électricité de France-Gaz de France and the Caisse centrale d’action sociale du personnel des industries électrique et gazière. CED conducted this study while on sabbatical leave from Laval University at UMS 011-INSERM. The authors thank Myrto Mondor, Ginette Desbiens, Denis Guillette (CHUQ) and Azzédine Bekkat (INSERM) for statistical, clerical and IT support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no financial or other conflicting interests with the content of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Axe Santé des Populations et Pratiques Optimales en Santé, Centre de Recherche FRQS du Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) de Québec, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, 1050, chemin Ste-Foy, Québec City, QC, G1S 4L8, Canada

    Clermont E. Dionne

  2. Population-Based Epidemiological Cohorts Unit, Inserm-UVSQ, UMS 011, 94807, Villejuif, France

    Clermont E. Dionne, Annette Leclerc, Matthieu Carton, Zakia Mediouni, Marcel Goldberg, Marie Zins & Alexis Descatha

  3. Université Versailles St-Quentin en Yvelines, 78035, Versailles, France

    Annette Leclerc, Matthieu Carton, Zakia Mediouni, Marcel Goldberg, Marie Zins & Alexis Descatha

  4. AP-HP, Occupational Health Unit/EMS (Samu92), University Hospital of West Suburb of Paris, Poincaré site, 92380, Garches, France

    Zakia Mediouni & Alexis Descatha

Authors
  1. Clermont E. Dionne
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  2. Annette Leclerc
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  3. Matthieu Carton
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  4. Zakia Mediouni
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  5. Marcel Goldberg
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  6. Marie Zins
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  7. Alexis Descatha
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Correspondence to Clermont E. Dionne.

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Dionne, C.E., Leclerc, A., Carton, M. et al. Social position modifies the association between severe shoulder/arm and knee/leg pain, and quality of life after retirement. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 89, 63–77 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1052-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-015-1052-z

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