Prevalencia y caracterización del dolor músculo-esquelético en odontólogos de la ciudad de Cuenca. 2016

Abstract

Objective: determine the prevalence and characteristics of musculoskeletal pain in dentists working in Cuenca. Methodology: A transversal epidemiological study was conducted on 240 dentists enrolled in the Provincial Health Department of Azuay, Cuenca-Ecuador. Through a data collection instrument to evaluate the sex, age, work-related aspects and characteristics of musculoskeletal pain, according to its frequency, intensity and duration. Statistical evaluation was performed through Pearson Chi-squared test to determine the incidence between qualitative variables; odds ratio (OR) was used to estimate the probability of disease and a multiple logistic regression model to determine the variables that had the greatest influence on musculoskeletal pain. Results: in 240 dentists studied, 58.7% were female. The most of them work in private offices (74.6%). They mainly have a workload that exceeds 30 hours per week (63.8%). 73.3% had musculoskeletal pain, in diverse areas, followed by neck pain and low back pain. 90.3% attributed musculoskeletal pain to labor causes. In multivariate analysis, the factors that most influenced the presence of musculoskeletal pain were: female gender (OR=2.60), sedentary lifestyle (OR=2.42), work in public hospitals (OR=2.97), and workload greater than 30 hours per week (OR=2.21). Conclusions: There is a high rate of musculoskeletal pain in dentists, which is determined by biological factors such as female gender, psychobiological habits such as sedentary lifestyle, and occupational issues such as work in public offices and workload greater than 30 hours per week; consequently, these aspects must be considered to create strategies to reduce the incidence of this pathology