Abstract

Healthcare workers are prone to develop musculoskeletal pain because of the physical demands of their profession. While neck and back pain are believed to have a relationship with depression symptomatology, few studies have assessed this relationship among healthcare workers. The purposes of this study were to identify the: prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms among healthcare workers; association between musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms; and the association between musculoskeletal pain and severity of depressive symptomatology among those with self-reported depressive symptoms. Data from 1,205 healthcare workers in the 2018 National Health Insurance Survey were analyzed. In Phase 1, a logistic regression model was fitted to assess the relationship between self-reported neck and back pain and depressive symptoms. Then, in Phase 2, a logistic regression model was fitted for participants with self-reported depressive symptoms (n=501) to identify associations of neck and back pain with the severity of depressive symptomatology. About 74.9% of the study participants were female, 42.7% aged 41-64 years, 34.5% reported musculoskeletal pain, while 41.7% reported depressive symptoms. Low back pain was the most prevalent body pain (18.7%). Healthcare workers with neck pain only (OR=2.11, P=0.047), low back pain only (OR=2.19, PPHealthcare workers could benefit from multi-faceted public health interventions to simultaneously improve their musculoskeletal pain and depressive symptoms (e.g., ergonomic evaluation, stress management, one-on-one or group counseling).

Keywords: Musculoskeletal pain, neck pain, back pain, depressive symptoms, healthcare workers

How to Cite:

Oloruntoba, O., Aggad, R., Merianos, A. L., Bergeron, C. D., Boolani, A., Gregory, K. & Smith, M. L., (2024) “Associations of Self-reported Musculoskeletal Pain and Depressive Symptoms among U.S. Healthcare Workers”, Health Behavior Research 7(4). doi: https://doi.org/10.4148/2572-1836.1260