Abstract
Objective: To investigate the 12-month prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among Portuguese call center operators and their associations with gender, body mass index (BMI) and hours of work. Background: According to previous studies, the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among call center operators is high. However, although this is a developing occupation in Portugal, there is a lack of studies assessing this issue as well as its associations with different risk factors. Method: The study was conducted in a call center company in Portugal. One-hundred and forty-eight workers agreed to participate, and filled out questionnaires to evaluate sociodemographic, anthropometric and occupational variables, as well as the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) to assess musculoskeletal symptoms in the last 12 months of nine body regions. Results: NMQ revealed that the 3 most affected body regions were the neck (56.1%), the low back (54.7%) and the shoulders (43.9%). Significant associations were found between gender and reporting symptoms in the wrist/hands (p = 0.033) and the knees (p = 0.031), with females reporting significantly more symptoms than males; and between BMI and reporting symptoms in the thighs/hips, with overweight operators reporting more symptoms (p = 0.010). No significant associations were found for the hours of work factor. Conclusion: The prevalence of symptoms in call center workers is high, especially in the neck, low back and shoulders, which evidence the need of workplace interventions, such as physical activity programs, among other approaches to decrease musculoskeletal complaints in these workers.
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Moreira-Silva, I., Queirós, R., Seixas, A., Cardoso, R., Ventura, N., Azevedo, J. (2022). Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms Among Portuguese Call Center Operators: Associations with Gender, Body Mass Index and Hours of Work. In: Arezes, P.M., et al. Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health III. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 406. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89617-1_19
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