Work absence due to musculoskeletal disorders among basic education teachers in Brazil

Barbosa, Rose Elizabeth Cabral; Alcantara, Marcus Alessandro de; Fonseca, Giovanni Campos; Assunção, Ada Ávila

doi:10.1590/2317-6369/18822en2023v48edepi5

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Brasil

Revista Brasileira de Saúde Ocupacional

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Brasil

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Sumário

Research Article/Dossier Epidemiology, Health and Work • Rev. bras. saúde ocup. 48 • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-6369/18822en2023v48edepi5 copy

Work absence due to musculoskeletal disorders among basic education teachers in Brazil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Objective:

to investigate factors associated with work absence due to musculoskeletal disorders among teachers of Brazilian basic education.

Methods:

a cross-sectional study, which used a probabilistic and representative sample of the major regions of Brazil. Through telephone interviews, a questionnaire was applied to collect socio-demographic information on health status, work absences, and characteristics of teaching work. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).

Results:

among the 6,510 participating teachers (63.2% female), the prevalence of leave due to musculoskeletal disorders was 14.7% (16.5% among women and 11.7% among men). The results indicated an association between absence and indiscipline in the classroom (female = PR: 1.36; 95%CI: 1.11;1.67; male = PR: 1.35; 95%CI: 1.02;1.78 ), verbal violence committed by students (female = PR: 1.16; 95%CI: 1.01;1.35; male = PR: 1.54; 95%CI: 1.22;1.95) and high professional tasks demands (female = PR: 1.17; 95%CI: 1.01;1.36; male = PR: 1.27; 95%CI: 1.01;1.60).

Conclusion:

the factors associated with work absences due to musculoskeletal disorders are related to teachers’ exposure to work overload and stressful school environments.

Keywords:
school teachers; absenteeism; occupational health; sex distribution; cross-sectional studies

*Variables*		*Female*		*Male*
*Variables*		n	%	n	%
Total sample		4,116	63.2	2,394	36.8
Age
	Up to 34 years	1,356	32.9	862	36.0
	Between 35 and 44 years old	1,214	29.5	730	30.5
	Between 45 and 54 years old	1,082	26.3	522	21.8
	55 years or older	464	11.3	280	11.7
Marital status
	No partner	1,656	40.2	919	38.4
	With partner	2,460	59.8	1,475	61.6
Has children
	No	1,247	30.3	918	38.3
	Yes	2,869	69.7	1,476	61.7
Frequent household activities (last 3 months)
	No	1,116	27.1	1,298	54.2
	Yes	3,000	72.9	1,096	45.8
Practice of physical exercises (last 3 months)
	Sufficiently active	1,461	35.5	1,168	48.8
	Insufficiently active	2,655	64.5	1,226	51.2
Self-assessment of health
	Good or very good	2,982	72.4	1875	78.3
	Fair	989	24.0	461	19.3
	Poor or very poor	145	3.5	58	2.4
Working time in Basic Education
	Less than 10 years	1,417	34.4	986	41.2
	Between 10 and 20 years	1,330	32.3	804	33.6
	More than 20 years	1,369	33.3	604	25.2
Other paid activity outside of Education
	No	3,803	92.4	1929	80.6
	Yes	313	7.6	465	19.4
Occupational overload
	No	2,734	66.4	1,459	60.9
	Yes	1,382	33.6	935	39.1
Refers to high noise in the classroom
	No	1,535	37.3	884	36.9
	Yes	2,581	62.7	1,510	63.1
Refers to indiscipline in the classroom
	No	1,229	29.9	793	33.1
	Yes	2,887	70.1	1,601	66.9
Suffered verbal violence practiced by students
	No	2,887	70.1	1731	72.3
	Yes	1,229	29.9	663	27.7
Suffered physical violence perpetrated by students
	No	3,979	96.7	2,347	98.0
	Yes	137	3.3	47	2.0
High task demands
	No	1823	44.3	1,132	47.3
	Yes	2,293	55.7	1,262	52.7
Enough time for work tasks
	Yes	2,417	58.7	1,422	59.4
	No	1,699	41.3	972	40.6

*Variables*		*Female*		*Male*
*Variables*		*P (%)*	*Crude PR (95%CI)*	*P (%)*	*Crude PR (95%CI)*
Leave of absence due to DME		16.5	1.41 (1.24;1.60)^e	11.7	1.00
Age
	Up to 34 years	11.4	1.00	9.9	1.00
	Between 35 and 44 years old	17.1	1.50 (1.24;1.8)^e	13.2	1.33 (1.01;1.76)^e
	Between 45 and 54 years old	21.1	1.86 (1.54;2.24)^e	13.6	1.38 (1.03;1.85)^e
	55 years or older	19.2	1.69 (1.33;2.14)^e	10.0	1.01 (0.68;1.52)
Marital status
	No partner	15.6	1.00	10.0	1.00
	With partner	17.0	1.09 (0.94;1.26)	12.7	1.27 (1.01;1.61)^e
Has children
	No	13.1	1.00	10.5	1.00
	Yes	18.0	1.37 (1.17;1.62)^e	12.5	1.19 (0.95;1.50)^e
Frequent household activities (last 3 months)
	No	17.1	1.00	11.2	1.00
	Yes	16.2	0.95 (0.81; 1.10)	12.3	1.10 (0.89;1.37)
Practice of physical exercises (last 3 months)
	Sufficiently active	14.5	1.00	8.9	1.00
	Insufficiently active	17.6	1.21 (1.04;1.40)^e	14.4	1.61 (1.28;2.03)^e
Self-assessment of health
	Good or very good	11.4	1.00	9.1	1.00
	Fair	27.8	2.44 (2.12;2.81)^e	20.0	2.19 (1.74;2.76)^e
	Poor or very poor	43.4	3.81 (3.09;4.71)^e	29.3	3.21 (2.10;4.91)^e
Working time in basic education
	Less than 10 years	12.1	1.00	9.0	1.00
	Between 10 and 20 years	15.5	1.28 (1.06;1.55)^e	12.4	1.38 (1.05;1.81)^e
	More than 20 years	22.0	1.82 (1.53;2.17)^e	15.1	1.67 (1.27;2.20)^e
Other paid activity outside of Education
	No	16.3	1.00	11.6	1.00
	Yes	18.2	1.11 (0.87;1.43)	12.3	1.06 (0.81;1.39)
Occupational overload
	No	15.1	1.00	10.3	1.00
	Yes	19.2	1.28 (1.11;1.47)^e	13.8	1.33 (1.07;1.66)^e
Refers to high noise in the classroom
	No	10.6	1.00	8.5	1.00
	Yes	20.0	1.88 (1.59;2.22)^e	13.6	1.60 (1.24;2.06)^e
Refers to indiscipline in the classroom
	No	10.1	1.00	7.8	1.00
	Yes	19.2	1.90 (1.58;2.28)^e	13.6	1.74 (1.33;2.28)^e
Suffered verbal violence practiced by students
	No	13.8	1.00	9.1	1.00
	Yes	22.7	1.64 (1.43;1.89)^e	18.4	2.02 (1.62;2.51)^e
Suffered physical violence perpetrated by students
	No	16.0	1.00	11.6	1.00
	Yes	29.9	1.87 (1.43;2.44)^e	17.0	1.47 (0.77;2.79)
High task demand
	No	12.6	1.00	8.9	1.00
	Yes	19.6	1.56 (1.35;1.81)^e	14.2	1.59 (1.26; 2.00)^e
Enough time for work tasks
	Yes	13.1	1.00	9.6	1.00
	No	21.2	1.62 (1.41;1.86)^e	14.7	1.53 (1.23;1.90)^e

*Variables*		*Adjusted PR (CI95%)*	p*
Age
Up to 34 years		1.00
	Between 35 and 44 years old	1.29 (1.06;1.59)	0.012
	Between 45 and 54 years old	1.46 (1.17;1.81)	0.001
	55 years or older	1.40 (1.07;1.83)	0.014
Self-assessment of health
	Good or very good	1.00
	Fair	2.07 (1.79;2.39)	< 0.001
	Poor or very poor	2.69 (2.16;3.36)	< 0.001
Working time in basic education
	Less than 10 years	1.00
	Between 10 and 20 years	1.12 (0.92;1.35)	0.255
	More than 20 years	1.36 (1.11;1.66)	0.003
Reports high noise in the classroom
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.32 (1.10;1.58)	0.003
Reports indiscipline in the classroom
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.36 (1.11;1.67)	0.004
Suffered verbal violence practiced by students
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.16 (1.01;1.35)	0.040
Suffered physical violence perpetrated by students
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.35 (1.03;1.77)	0.031
High task demand
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.17 (1.01;1.36)	0.033
Enough time for work tasks
	Yes	1.00
	No	1.32 (1.15;1.51)	< 0.001

*Variables* ^f		*Adjusted PR (CI95%)*	p*
Practice of physical exercises (last 3 months)
	Sufficiently active	1.00
	Insufficiently active	1.32 (1.05;1.67)	0.019
Self-assessment of health
Good or very good		1.00
	Fair	1.76 (1.38;2.24)	< 0.001
	Poor or very poor	2.41 (1.56;3.74)	< 0.001
Working time in basic education
Less than 10 years		1.00
	Between 10 and 20 years	1.30 (0.96;1.75)	0.089
	More than 20 years	1.79 (1.25;2.58)	0.002
Reports indiscipline in the classroom
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.35 (1.02;1.78)	0.038
Suffered verbal violence practiced by students
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.54 (1.22;1.95)	< 0.001
High task demand
	No	1.00
	Yes	1.27 (1.01;1.60)	0.044

Fundação Jorge Duprat Figueiredo de Segurança e Medicina do Trabalho - FUNDACENTRO Rua Capote Valente, 710 , 05409 002 São Paulo/SP Brasil, Tel: (55 11) 3066-6076 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: rbso@fundacentro.gov.br

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[1] Contact: Giovanni Campos Fonseca E-mail: gcfonseca@ufmg.br