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Musculoskeletal Disorders

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Handbook of Epidemiology

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Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders are a significant public health problem in industrialized countries. They are one of the leading causes of short- and long-term disability and cause high costs due to loss of productivity, burden on health care services, and social security systems. It has been estimated that the cost of back pain only is 1–2% of the gross national product. About 10% is due to direct health care costs and 90% due to indirect costs (Norlund and Waddell 2000). In this chapter, the focus is in morbidity and etiology of musculoskeletal disorders. The social consequences, such as disability, are not discussed, because disability-related issues depend on the societal context, such as cultural factors and social security regulations, to the extent that cross-national comparisons cannot be made. Firstly, an overview is given of the occurrence and risk factors of the most common musculoskeletal disorders, back and neck disorders, osteoarthritis, upper limb disorders, and osteoporosis. Secondly, some methodological problems in epidemiological research, characteristic for musculoskeletal disorders, are discussed including general study design, and assessment of both health outcome and exposure.

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    1. Hilkka Riihimäki
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    1. Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiologic Research, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, Bremen, Germany

      Wolfgang Ahrens

    2. Department of Biometry and Data Management, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, Bremen, Germany

      Iris Pigeot

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    Riihimäki, H. (2014). Musculoskeletal Disorders. In: Ahrens, W., Pigeot, I. (eds) Handbook of Epidemiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_37

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