Prevalence and predictors of musculoskeletal pain among Danish fishermen – results from a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND Fishermen work in a physically challenging work environment. The aim of this analysis was to estimate the prevalence and predictors of musculoskeletal pain among Danish fishermen. METHOD A cross-sectional survey in a random sample of Danish fishermen was done with application of the Nordic questionnaire regarding musculoskeletal pain considering lower back, shoulders, hand neck, knee, upper back elbow, hip and feet. In total, 270 fishermen participated in the study (response rate: 28%). Workload, vessel type, skipper, duration of work, sideline occupation, days/weeks of fishing at sea, age, BMI and education were used as predictors for the overall musculoskeletal pain score (multiple linear regression) and for each single pain site (multinomial logistic regression). RESULTS The prevalence of pain was high for all musculoskeletal locations. Overall, more than 80% of the responding Danish fishermen reported low back pain, which in 37% lasted for a minimum of 30 days during the past year. In the multiple linear regression analysis, middle workload was associated with a 32% (95% CI: 19-46%) and high workload with 60% (95% CI: 46-73%) increased musculoskeletal pain score compared to low work load. Multinomial logistic regression models showed that workload was the only predictor for all pain sites, in particular regarding upper and lower limb pain. CONCLUSION Although changes were implemented to improve the fishermen's work environment, the work continues to be physically demanding and impacting their musculoskeletal pain. Potential explanation for this unexpected result like increased work pressure and reduced financial attractiveness in small scale commercial fishery needs to be confirmed in future research.