Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and quality of life in housekeeping workers of a tertiary care hospital in Navi Mumbai, India: a descriptive study (original) (raw)

This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprints@medknow.com How to cite this article: Chheda P, Rajan Sreeraj S. Prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and quality of life in housekeeping workers of a tertiary care hospital in Navi Mumbai, India: A descriptive study. MGM J Med Sci 2020;7:133-40. Abstract Context: Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in India is 90%, leading to loss of working hours, poor quality of life (QoL), and reduction in productivity of the life of the employers. Housekeeping profession, considered a major workforce industry, requires manual labor demanding awkward postures and repetitive movements, leading to MSDs and impacting QoL. Objectives: The objective of this study was to find the prevalence of the symptoms of MSDs and QoL in the housekeeping workers of the hospital. Settings and Design: A descriptive study was carried out among housekeeping workers of MGM Hospital, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: With Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) and WHO-QOL-BREF scale, 82 housekeeping workers were contacted, and an interview-based session was held. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive analysis and graphical representation were carried out using MS Excel. Results: Of the participants, 68.29% were females with a mean age of 42.28 ± 7.4 years, and 31.70% were males with a mean age of 42.04 ± 8.3 years. The prevalence of the symptoms of MSDs was higher in knees followed by lower back and lower leg. Females (80.36%) were affected more than males (61.54%). WHOQOL-BREF for QoL showed a moderate impact without much gender difference. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a high prevalence of the symptoms of MSDs in housekeeping staff, more likely in the lower back, knee, and lower leg, and WHO QOL-BREF shows comparable mean scores among males and females. Keywords: Global burden of disease, housekeeping workers, musculoskeletal disorders, quality of life Key messages: Studies addressing the influence of MSDs and QoL on the housekeeping workforce of hospitals are scarce and data addressing the same helps to spread more awareness on areas needing attention and prevention programs needed for this population.