Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and it's associated Factors among Farmers and Workers: a cross-sectional study from Agh Ghala, Golestan, Iran

In today's world, Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) with high prevalence in work settings are one of the most important occupational health issues. In addition, MSDs cause personal distress, decreased working capacity, and waste of time, work absenteeism, increased health care costs and economic losses. This study aimed to compare the prevalence rate of MSDs and their associated factors among farmers and workers in Agh Ghala.
Methods and Materials: This study was a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of 300 patients (150 farmers and 150 workers) who were selected from Agh Ghala city in Golestan province. The data collection instrument was Nordic questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test in SPSS software version.
In this study, about 72% of the farmers (N = 108) and 83.33% of the workers (N = 125) were suffering from MSDs during the preceding year. The most common disorders were Lower Back Pain (LBP) 36.7% (N = 55) and 55.3% (N = 83) in farmers and workers respectively, followed by knee pain 25.3% (N = 38) and 36.7% (N = 57) in farmers and workers respectively. The chi-square test showed a significant relationship between the MSDs and age, level of education, and training in ergonomic principles (P Regarding the high prevalence rate of MSDs, it is necessary to organize training courses about professional ergonomic interventions in order to raise farmer's and worker's awareness and skills. These programs can be used to improve the health behsubsequentubsequently healthworkers, duefarmers and workers due to preventing from the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders.