The independent and interactive effects of changes in overtime and night shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic on burnout among nurses: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the independent and interactive effects of changes in overtime and night shifts on burnout among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Nurses working in an Italian university hospital (N=317) completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory in September 2019 and again in December 2020. Based on hospital administrative data, changes in overtime and night shifts in the same years were categorized into three groups each. Linear regressions were used to estimate 2020 burnout differences between exposure groups, controlling for 2019 burnout levels, demographic and work-related characteristics, and to test the interaction between the two exposures. RESULTS: Nurses in the onset of high overtime group had higher emotional exhaustion [4.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.74-6.92], depersonalization (2.10, 95% CI 0.49-3.71), and poor personal accomplishment (2.64, 95% CI 0.55-4.74) compared to stable low overtime nurses. Nurses in the increase in night shifts group had lower emotional exhaustion (-4.49, 95% CI -7.46- -1.52) compared to no night shift nurses. Interaction analyses revealed that this apparently paradoxical effect was limited to stable low overtime nurses only. Moreover, increases in night shifts were associated with higher depersonalization and poor personal accomplishment in nurses in the stable high overtime group. CONCLUSIONS: Increase in overtime is an independent risk factor for burnout among nurses, highlighting the need for specific regulations and actions to address it. Long-standing guidelines for the assignment of night shifts might have contributed to attenuate the impact of their increase on nurses' mental health.

Perceived work stressors and the transition to burnout among nurses in response to the pandemic: implications for healthcare organizations.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the associations of pre-pandemic perceived work stressors and work satisfaction among nurses, including nurse assistants, with burnout profiles and their transitions in response to the pandemic. METHODS: Three hundred and thirty-seven nurses working in an Italian University hospital participated in a longitudinal study including a survey in August 2019 investigating perceived work stressors (assessed using the HSE Indicator Tool), work satisfaction (Work Satisfaction Scale), and burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), and a second survey in December 2020 assessing burnout. Using latent transition analysis, we identified burnout profiles and then estimated the associations between work stressors and satisfaction on profiles and transitions. RESULTS: We identified three pre-pandemic profiles, namely engaged (67%), ineffective (15%), and burnout (18%); and three pandemic profiles, namely engaged (37%), exhausted (51%), and severe burnout (12%). The severe burnout profile consisted of 70% nurses classified in the burnout profile before the pandemic. Overall, work stressors and satisfaction were associated with both pre-pandemic and pandemic burnout profiles. Among nurses not in the burnout profile prior to COVID-19, pre-pandemic hostile relationships increased [odds ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05-1.34] and work satisfaction decreased (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.68-0.98) the probability to transition to exhausted. Moreover, work satisfaction (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.32-0.91) and participation in work organization (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.51-0.93) protected from transitioning to severe burnout. The association between peer support and the transition to exhausted needs further investigation. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-pandemic work stressors and satisfaction were associated with pandemic burnout and burnout transitions. To enhance preparedness for future crises, healthcare managers should carefully assess and tackle work-related constraints affecting nurses.

Systematic Violence Monitoring to Reduce Underreporting and to Better Inform Workplace Violence Prevention Among Health Care Workers: Before-and-After Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring workplace violence (WPV) against health care workers (HCWs) through incident reporting is crucial to drive prevention, but the actual implementation is spotty and experiences underreporting. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to introduce a systematic WPV surveillance in 2 public referral hospitals in Italy and assess underreporting, WPV annual rates, and attributes "before" (2016-2020) and "after" its implementation (November 2021 to 2022). METHODS: During 2016-2020, incident reporting was based on procedures and data collection forms that were neither standardized between hospitals nor specific for aggressions. We planned and implemented a standardized WPV surveillance based on (1) an incident report form for immediate and systematic event notification, adopting international standards for violence definitions; (2) second-level root cause analysis with a dedicated psychologist, assessing violence determinants and impacts and offering psychological counseling; (3) a web-based platform for centralized data collection; and (4) periodic training for workforce coordinators and newly hired workers. We used data from incident reports to estimate underreporting, defined as an observed-to-expected (from literature and the "before" period) WPV ratio less than 1, and the 12-month WPV rates (per 100 HCWs) in the "before" and "after" periods. During the latter period, we separately estimated WPV rates for first and recurrent events. RESULTS: In the "before" period, the yearly observed-to-expected ratios were consistently below 1 and as low as 0.27, suggesting substantial violence underreporting of up to 73%. WPV annual rates declined in 1 hospital (from 1.92 in 2016 to 0.57 in 2020) and rose in the other (from 0.52 to 1.0), with the divergence being attributable to trends in underreporting. Available data were poorly informative to identify at-risk HCW subgroups. In the "after" period, the observed-to-expected ratio rose to 1.14 compared to literature and 1.91 compared to the "before" period, consistently in both hospitals. The 12-month WPV rate was 2.08 (95% CI 1.79-2.42; 1.52 and 2.35 in the 2 hospitals); one-fifth (0.41/2.08, 19.7%) was due to recurrences. Among HCWs, the youngest group (3.79; P<.001), nurses (3.19; P<.001), and male HCWs (2.62; P=.008) reported the highest rates. Emergency departments and psychiatric wards were the 2 areas at increased risk. Physical assaults were more likely in male than female HWCs (45/67, 67.2% vs 62/130, 47.7%; P=.01), but the latter experienced more mental health consequences (46/130, 35.4% vs 13/67, 19.4%; P=.02). Overall, 40.8% (53/130) of female HWCs recognized sociocultural (eg, linguistic or cultural) barriers as contributing factors for the aggression, and 30.8% (40/130) of WPV against female HCWs involved visitors as perpetrators. CONCLUSIONS: A systematic WPV surveillance reduced underreporting. The identification of high-risk workers and characterization of violence patterns and attributes can better inform priorities and contents of preventive policies. Our evaluation provides useful information for the large-scale implementation of standardized WPV-monitoring programs.

Pre-pandemic burnout and its changes during the COVID-19 outbreak as predictors of mental health of healthcare workers: A lesson to be learned.

The aim of this study was to identify how previously existing burnout and its changes during the pandemic contributed to PTSD symptoms and psychological distress in a cohort of 388 healthcare workers (HCWs). Each HCW was surveyed in Sep 2019 (before COVID-19) and again in Dec 2020-Jan 2021 (during the pandemic) to assess burnout (MBI); and in the second wave only to assess PTSD (PCL-5-SF), psychological distress (GHQ-12) and resilience (CD-RISC-10). Changes in emotional exhaustion (EE) and depersonalisation (DEP) were stronger in HCWs with lower EE and DEP baseline values. HCWs with higher baseline poor personal accomplishment (PPA) improved more than those with lower baseline values. In multivariable-adjusted models, pre-pandemic EE and its changes were equally associated to both outcomes: standardised-ßs of 0.52 and 0.54 for PTSD, respectively; and 0.55 and 0.53 for psychological distress. Changes in DEP were associated with PTSD only (0.10). Changes in PPA had a higher association with psychological distress (0.29) than pre-pandemic PPA (0.13). Resilience was associated with lower psychological distress (-0.25). Preventive actions aimed at reducing EE, e.g., addressing organisational dysfunctions, are needed to mitigate the impact of future crises, whereas improving personal accomplishment levels is a key target to protect HCWs from mental health disorders during a pandemic.

The North Italian Longitudinal Study Assessing the Mental Health Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Health Care Workers-Part I: Study Design and Psychometric Structural Validity of the HSE Indicator Tool and Work Satisfaction Scale.

Literature on the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the mental health of Health Care Workers (HCWs) is mostly based on cross-sectional surveys. We designed a longitudinal study to assess work-related stress and mental health before and after the pandemic onset in a university-hospital in Lombardia region, Italy. We report on sample representativeness and structural validity of questionnaires assessing work stress (HSE Indicator Tool, HSE-IT) and work satisfaction (WS), which were not validated in the HCWs population. n = 1287 HCWs from 67 hospital wards/offices were invited to an online survey in summer 2019 (pre-COVID-19 wave) and again during winter 2020 (COVID-19 wave). Selected hospital wards/offices did not differ from the remaining wards for turn-over and down-sizing rates, overload, sick leaves, and night shifts (Wilcoxon rank tests p-values > 0.05). Participation rates were 70% (n = 805) and 60% (n = 431) in the pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 waves, respectively. Socio-demographic and work-related characteristics did not impact data completeness nor participation to the COVID-19 wave. While confirming a 7-component structure for HSE-IT, we identified a new factor related to participation in work organization. A one-factor model for WS had satisfactory fit. Our longitudinal study based on a representative sample and adopting validated questionnaires is well-suited to elucidate the role of work conditions on the development of mental health disorders in HCWs.

The North Italian Longitudinal Study Assessing the Mental Health Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Health Care Workers-Part II: Structural Validity of Scales Assessing Mental Health.

It is unclear if the factor structure of the questionnaires that were employed by studies addressing the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of Healthcare Workers (HCW) did not change due to the pandemic. The aim of this study is to assess the factor structure and longitudinal measurement invariance of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the factor structure of the General Health Questionnare-12 (GHQ-12), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5-Short Form (PCL-5-SF), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 (CD-RISC-10) and Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF). Out of n = 805 HCWs from a University hospital who responded to a pre-COVID-19 survey, n = 431 were re-assessed after the COVID-19 outbreak. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the MBI showed adequate fit and good internal consistency only after removal of items 2, 6, 12 and 16. The assumptions of configural and metric longitudinal invariance were met, whereas scalar longitudinal invariance did not hold. CFAs and exploratory bifactor analyses performed using data from the second wave confirmed that the GHQ-12, the PCL-5-SF, the PTGI-SF and the CD-RISC-10 were unidimensional. In conclusion, we found support for a refined version of the MBI. The comparison of mean MBI values in HCWs before and after the pandemic should be interpreted with caution.

Evaluation of menstrual irregularities after COVID-19 vaccination: Results of the MECOVAC survey.

We investigated menstrual irregularities after the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Women answered a customised online questionnaire (ClinicalTrial.gov ID: NCT05083065) aimed to assess the vaccine type, the phase of the menstrual cycle during which the vaccine was administered, the occurrence of menstrual irregularities after the first and second doses, and how long this effect lasted. We excluded women with gynaecological and non-gynaecological diseases, undergoing hormonal and non-hormonal treatments, in perimenopause or menopause, as well as those who had irregular menstrual cycles in the last 12 months before vaccine administration. According to our data analysis, approximately 50-60% of reproductive-age women who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine reported menstrual cycle irregularities, regardless of the type of administered vaccine. The occurrence of menstrual irregularities seems to be slightly higher (60-70%) after the second dose. Menstrual irregularities after both the first and second doses of the vaccine were found to self-resolve in approximately half the cases within two months. Based on these results, we suggest to consider these elements during the counselling of women who receive the COVID-19 vaccine, letting them know about the potential occurrence of temporary and self-limiting menstrual cycle irregularities in the subsequent month(s).

Mucosal immune response in BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine recipients.

BACKGROUND: Although the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine is known to induce IgG neutralizing antibodies in serum protecting against COVID-19, it has not been studied in detail whether it could generate specific immunity at mucosal sites, which represent the primary route of entry of SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: Samples of serum and saliva of 60 BNT162b2-vaccinated healthcare workers were collected at baseline, two weeks after the first dose and two weeks after the second dose. Anti-S1-protein IgG and IgA total antibodies titres and the presence of neutralizing antibodies against the Receptor Binding Domain in both serum and saliva were measured by quantitative and by competitive ELISA, respectively. FINDINGS: Complete vaccination cycle generates a high serum IgG antibody titre as a single dose in previously infected seropositive individuals. Serum IgA concentration reaches a plateau after a single dose in seropositive individuals and two vaccine doses in seronegative subjects. After the second dose IgA level was higher in seronegative than in seropositive subjects. In saliva, IgG level is almost two orders of magnitude lower than in serum, reaching the highest values after the second dose. IgA concentration remains low and increases significantly only in seropositive individuals after the second dose. Neutralizing antibody titres were much higher in serum than in saliva. INTERPRETATION: The mRNA BNT162b2 vaccination elicits a strong systemic immune response by drastically boosting neutralizing antibodies development in serum, but not in saliva, indicating that at least oral mucosal immunity is poorly activated by this vaccination protocol, thus failing in limiting virus acquisition upon its entry through this route. FUNDING: This work was funded by the Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Insubria, and partially supported by Fondazione Umberto Veronesi (COVID-19 Insieme per la ricerca di tutti, 2020).

Occupational class differences in ankle-brachial index and pulse wave velocity measurements to detect subclinical vascular disease.

BACKGROUND: High pulse wave velocity (PWV) and low ankle brachial index (ABI) have been proposed as surrogate end-points for cardiovascular disease (CVD). OBJECTIVES: In a cross-sectional setting, we aimed at assessing the distributions of PWV and ABI among occupational classes (OC) in a population-based ever-employed salaried sample. METHODS: We enrolled 1388 salaried CVD-free workers attending a CVD population-based survey, the RoCAV study, and classified them into four OC, based on current or last job title: manager/director (MD), non-manual (NMW), skilled-manual (SMW) and (UMW) unskilled-manual workers. We derived brachial-ankle PWV and ABI from four-limb blood pressures measurements, then carotid-femoral PWV (cfPWV) was estimated. We estimated the OC gradients in cfPWV and ABI using linear and logistic regression models. RESULTS: Compared to MD (reference category), UMW had higher age- and BMI-adjusted cfPWV mean values both in men (0.63 m/s; 95%CI:0.11-1.16) and women (1.60 m/s; 0.43-2.77), only marginally reduced when adjusting for CVD risk factors. Decreased ABI mean values were also detected in lower OC. The overall detection rate of abnormal cfPWV (≥12 m/s) or ABI (≤0.9) values was 28%. Compared to MD, the prevalence of abnormal cfPWV or ABI was higher in NMW (OR=1.77; 95%CI:1.12-2.79), SMW (1.71; 1.05-2.78) and UMW (2.72; 1.65-4.50). Adjustment for CVD risk factors used in risk score equations did not change the results. DISCUSSION: We found a higher prevalence of abnormal values of arterial stiffness measures in lower OC, and these differences were not explained by traditional CVD risk factors. These may be presumably determined by additional work- and environmental-related risk factors.

Association of Circulating Metabolites With Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in a European Population: Results From the Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Europe (BiomarCaRE) Consortium.

Importance: Risk stratification for coronary heart disease (CHD) remains challenging because of the complex causative mechanism of the disease. Metabolomic profiling offers the potential to detect new biomarkers and improve CHD risk assessment. Objective: To evaluate the association between circulating metabolites and incident CHD in a large European cohort. Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based study used the Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Europe (BiomarCaRE) case-cohort to measure circulating metabolites using a targeted approach in serum samples from 10 741 individuals without prevalent CHD. The cohort consisted of a weighted, random subcohort of the original cohort of more than 70 000 individuals. The case-cohort design was applied to 6 European cohorts: FINRISK97 (Finland), Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Diseases/Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg (MONICA/KORA; Germany), MONICA-Brianza and Moli-sani (Italy), DanMONICA (Denmark), and the Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort (United Kingdom). Main Outcomes and Measures: Associations with time to CHD onset were assessed individually by applying weighted and adjusted Cox proportional hazard models. The association of metabolites with CHD onset was examined by C indices. Results: In 10 741 individuals (4157 women [38.7%]; median [interquartile range] age, 56.5 [49.2-62.2] years), 2166 incident CHD events (20.2%) occurred over a median (interquartile range) follow-up time of 9.2 (4.5-15.0) years. Among the 141 metabolites analyzed, 24 were significantly associated with incident CHD at a nominal P value of .05, including phosphatidylcholines (PCs), lysoPCs, amino acids, and sphingolipids. Five PCs remained significant after correction for multiple testing: acyl-alkyl-PC C40:6 (hazard ratio [HR], 1.13 [95% CI, 1.07-1.18]), diacyl-PC C40:6 (HR, 1.10 [95% CI, 1.04-1.15]), acyl-alkyl-PC C38:6 (HR, 1.11 [95% CI, 1.05-1.16]), diacyl-PC C38:6 (HR, 1.09 [95% CI, 1.04-1.14]) and diacyl-PC C38:5 (HR, 1.10 [95% CI, 1.05-1.16]). Lower levels of these metabolites were associated with increased risk of incident CHD. The strength of the associations competes with those of classic risk factors (C statistics: acyl-alkyl-PC C40:6, 0.756 [95% CI, 0.738-0.774], diacyl-PC C40:6, 0.754 [95% CI, 0.736-0.772], acyl-alkyl-PC C38:6, 0.755 [95% CI, 0.736-0.773], diacyl-PC C38:6, 0.754 [95% CI, 0.736-0.772]), diacyl-PC C38:5, 0.754 [95% CI, 0.736-0.772]). Adding metabolites to a base risk model including classic risk factors high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and high-sensitivity troponin I did not improve discrimination by C statistics. Conclusions and Relevance: Five PCs were significantly associated with increased risk of incident CHD and showed comparable discrimination with individual classic risk factors. Although these metabolites do not improve CHD risk assessment beyond that of classic risk factors, these findings hold promise for an improved understanding of the pathophysiology of CHD.

Cardiovascular disease prevention at the workplace: assessing the prognostic value of lifestyle risk factors and job-related conditions.

OBJECTIVES: The prognostic utility of lifestyle risk factors and job-related conditions (LS&JRC) for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification remains to be clarified. METHODS: We investigated discrimination and clinical utility of LS&JRC among 2532 workers, 35-64 years old, CVD-free at the time of recruitment (1989-1996) in four prospective cohorts in Northern Italy, and followed up (median 14 years) until first major coronary event or ischemic stroke, fatal or non-fatal. From a Cox model including cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, occupational and sport physical activity and job strain, we estimated 10-year discrimination as the area under the ROC curve (AUC), and clinical utility as the Net Benefit. RESULTS: N = 162 events occurred during follow-up (10-year risk: 4.3%). The LS&JRC model showed the same discrimination (AUC = 0.753, 95% CI 0.700-0.780) as blood lipids, blood pressure, smoking and diabetes (AUC = 0.753), consistently across occupational classes. Among workers at low CVD risk (n = 1832, 91 CVD events), 687 were at increased LS&JRC risk; of these, 1 every 15 was a case, resulting in a positive Net Benefit (1.27; 95% CI 0.68-2.16). CONCLUSIONS: LS&JRC are as accurate as clinical risk factors in identifying future cardiovascular events among working males. Our results support initiatives to improve total health at work as strategies to prevent cardiovascular disease.

Differing associations for sport versus occupational physical activity and cardiovascular risk.

OBJECTIVES: We investigate the independent and interacting long-term associations of occupational physical activity (OPA) and sport physical activity (SpPA) with the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD; CHD plus ischaemic stroke) in North Italian male workers. METHODS: 3574 employed men aged 25-64 years, free of CVD at baseline, recruited in three population-based and one factory-based cohorts, were included in the analysis. The Baecke Questionnaire was used to assess OPA and SpPA in 'minutes per week' of moderate or vigorous PA. We estimated the associations between different domains of PA and the endpoints, adjusting for major CVD risk factors, using Cox models. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 14 years, 135 and 174 first CHD and CVD events, fatal and non-fatal, occurred. Compared with the intermediate OPA tertile, the HRs for CHD among low and high OPA workers were 1.66 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.59) and 1.18 (0.72 to 1.94), respectively (P value=0.07). Decreasing trends in CHD and CVD rates across increasing levels of SpPA were also found, with an HR for CVD of 0.68 (0.46 to 0.98) for intermediate/recommended SpPA compared with poor SpPA. We also found a statistically significant SpPA-OPA interaction, and the protective effect of SpPA was only found among sedentary workers, for both endpoints. Conversely, high OPA workers with intermediate/recommended SpPA levels had increased CHD and CVD rates compared with the poor SpPA category. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide further evidence on the health paradox of OPA, with higher CVD rates among workers with intense PA at work. Moreover, the protective effect on CVDs of SpPA is prominent in sedentary workers, but it attenuates and even reverses in moderate and strenuous OPA workers.

Heart Rate Variability Frequency Domain Alterations among Healthy Nurses Exposed to Prolonged Work Stress.

The deregulation of the autonomic nervous system assessed through the heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a promising pathway linking work stress and cardiovascular diseases. We aim to investigate the associations between HRV High Frequency (HF) and Low Frequency (LF) powers and work stress in a sample of 36 healthy nurses. Perceived work stress was assessed twice one year apart, using the Job Content and Effort Reward Imbalance questionnaires. This allows to classify nurses in three exposure groups: "prolonged high stress" (PHS), "recent high stress" (RHS) and "stable low stress" (SLS). A 24-h ECG monitoring was later performed during a working day (WD) and a subsequent resting day (RD). Statistically significantly lower (p < 0.02) HF and LF means were found in PHS and RHS nurses during the working periods. In the subsequent resting periods, HF means showed increases over time in the RHS (beta = +0.41, p < 0.05), but not in PHS nurses. LF means did not show any substantial increases in the resting periods, in the PHS group with geometric means lower when compared to SLS, in the non-working and resting periods. Our study evidences that both prolonged and recent perceived high work stress were associated with a reduction of HF and LF powers during work. In addition, prolonged stress was associated with a lack of recovery during not-working and resting periods.

Non-intestinal type sinonasal cancers and exposure to occupational carcinogens: a case-control study. / Tumori nasosinusali diversi da adenocarcinoma di tipo intestinale ed esposizione a cancerogeni professionali: uno studio caso-controllo.

BACKGROUND: Sinonasal cancers are rare, often fatal, tumors with a very high proportion of cases attributable to occupational exposures. The relevance of different carcinogens deeply varies among histological subtypes, with intestinal type adenocarcinomas (ITAC) characterized by a very large proportion of workers exposed to wood dust. The role of occupation in the etiology of other histotypes is less clear and more disputed, with authors questioning the possible occupational origin of non-ITAC cancers. METHODS: We conducted a hospital-based case-control study on 50 consecutives non-ITAC cancers and 50 controls, in Varese, Italy. Relative risks for previous exposure to carcinogens (any or single agent, i.e. wood/leather dust, solvents, metals) were calculated by multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for age, gender, smoking habits and residence (within or outside the Lombardy region). RESULTS: Having been exposed to any occupational carcinogen carried an OR of 3.04 (95%CI: 0.91-10.21). Considering single carcinogens, we observed no increased risk for wood dust exposure (OR=1.02, 95%CI: 0.21-4.94), while a large effect associated with previous exposure to other recognized carcinogens (leather dust, solvents or metals) appeared: OR=7.01 (95%CI: 1.51-32.8). DISCUSSION: Our results highlighted the importance of properly considering sinonasal cancers histological subtypes when investigating the role of occupational carcinogens. Grouping together all sinonasal cancers may end up in underestimating the role of wood in ITAC etiology as well as the relevance of other occupational exposures for non-ITAC tumors. All sinonasal cancers deserve a thorough investigation of the occupational history.

Physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in Brazilian and Italian nurses.

As part of the international CUPID investigation, we compared physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among nurses in Brazil and Italy. Using questionnaires, we collected information on musculoskeletal disorders and potential risk factors from 751 nurses employed in public hospitals. By fitting countryspecific multiple logistic regression models, we investigated the association of stressful physical activities and psychosocial characteristics with site-specific and multisite pain, and associated sickness absence. We found no clear relationship between low back pain and occupational lifting, but neck and shoulder pain were more common among nurses who reported prolonged work with the arms in an elevated position. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, pain in the low back, neck and shoulder, multisite pain, and sickness absence were all associated with somatizing tendency in both countries. Our findings support a role of somatizing tendency in predisposition to musculoskeletal disorders, acting as an important mediator of the individual response to triggering exposures, such as workload.

Physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in Brazilian and Italian nurses / Fatores de risco físico e psicossocial para distúrbios musculoesqueléticos em enfermeiras brasileiras e italianas

As part of the international CUPID investigation, we compared physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among nurses in Brazil and Italy. Using questionnaires, we collected information on musculoskeletal disorders and potential risk factors from 751 nurses employed in public hospitals. By fitting countryspecific multiple logistic regression models, we investigated the association of stressful physical activities and psychosocial characteristics with site-specific and multisite pain, and associated sickness absence. We found no clear relationship between low back pain and occupational lifting, but neck and shoulder pain were more common among nurses who reported prolonged work with the arms in an elevated position. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, pain in the low back, neck and shoulder, multisite pain, and sickness absence were all associated with somatizing tendency in both countries. Our findings support a role of somatizing tendency in predisposition to musculoskeletal disorders, acting as an important mediator of the individual response to triggering exposures, such as workload.

Como parte da pesquisa internacional CUPID, comparamos os fatores de risco físico e psicossocial para distúrbios osteomusculares entre enfermeiras no Brasil e na Itália. Foram coletados dados com questionários sobre distúrbios osteomusculares e seus fatores de risco potenciais com 751 enfermeiros de hospitais públicos. Com modelos de regressão logística específicas para cada país, investigamos a associação entre atividades físicas estressantes e as características psicossociais, com dores em sítios específicos e múltiplos, assim como ausências motivadas por doença. Não encontramos clara relação entre dor lombar e levantamento de pesos, porém dores no pescoço e ombros foram as mais relatadas entre as enfermeiras que realizam trabalho prolongado, com braços elevados. As dores na lombar, pescoço, ombros e em múltiplos sítios foram associadas à tendência somatizante e à ausência por doença em ambos os países. Nossos achados reforçam o papel da tendência somatizante como fator predisponente para distúrbios osteomusculares, atuando como um importante mediador da resposta individual.