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Musculoskeletal Symptoms Among Korean Nursing Students
Derek R Smith
Researcher, Department of Hazard Assessment, National Institute of Industrial Health, Kawasaki, Japan
Myoung-Ae Choe
Professor, College of Nursing, Seoul National University, South Korea
Young Ran Chae
Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, South Korea
Jae-Sim Jeong
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Nursing, University of Ulsan, Seoul, Korea
Mi Yang Jeon
Assistant Professor, Keukdong College, Chungcheong-do, South Korea
Gyeong Ju An
Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Daegu, South Korea
Abstract
We investigated the epidemiology of musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) among Korean nursing students using a validated, questionnaire survey.
Among 202 students, the prevalence of MSS at any body site ranged from 69.0% to 77.1% (overall rate: 73.3%) MSS was most commonly reported at the shoulder (46.0%), followed by the lower back (39.1%), neck (35.6%), feet (25.2%) and lower legs (23.8%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that students who undertook regular exercise were only half as likely to report an MSS at any body site (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2-0.9, P=0.0350). Increasing body weight was also correlated with a decreased likelihood of MSS (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.002-0.9, P=0.0460).
Overall, our study has shown that Korean nursing students report a high prevalence of MSS, when compared to their international counterparts. Their MSS burden is roughly comparable with Korean workers, in a variety of occupations. Further investigations will now be required to elucidate the contributory factors for nursing students' MSS in Korea, as elsewhere.
Keywords
nursing student, musculoskeletal symptoms, Korea, low back pain, epidemiology
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