work-related musculoskeletal disorders among administrative employees of kerman university of medical sciences

background: this study examined the factors affecting on musculoskeletal disorders and its frequency among administrative employees of kerman university of medical sciences in 2015. materials and method: this cross-sectional study conducted among 300 employees (94% response rate) from different department of kerman university of medical sciences, kerman, iran. the data were collected by standard nordic questionnaire. we used the binary logistic regression in spss v.16 software to calculate odds ratios and confidence intervals, and chi-square and t tests to investigate the relationship between variables. results: the highest disorders were in the lower back (41%), shoulder (28%) and the lowest were to the elbow and forearm (5%). among the different departments, health department staff (92.7%) and food and drug (92.5%) had the highest rate and research department had the least amount of disorders (70%). among the variables, only age and body mass index were significantly associated with the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (p<0.05). the chances of developing musculoskeletal symptoms in people 22-29 years old compared to those older than 46 years, was 74% lower (or=0.26 and p=0.03). besides, chance for the support staff department to research staff department was 6 times higher (or=5.96 and p=0.01). conclusion: providing the necessary training courses about appropriate working postures and about consequences of weight gain can reduce the prevalence of these disorders. so according to the limitations of resources and as well as to preventing and reducing the prevalence of disorders, priority and focus should be on the employees department of health and department of food and drug.