Musculoskeletal disorders and related factors in elderly people living in a nursing home in Rasht

One of the most important causes of disability in the elderly is skeletal-muscular disorders. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and their relationship with some related factors in the elderly.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 232 elderly residents of a nursing home in Rasht, using convenience sampling based on the inclusion criteria. The research instruments included demographic information, developed Nordic questionnaire, and visual pain scale. Data analysis was performed with SPSS 16 and using descriptive and analytical statistics.

The findings showed that 51.72% and 48.28% of the samples had mild and moderate musculoskeletal pain, respectively. All samples (100%) had MSDs in multiple areas of the body. The most disorders were related to the neck (51.72%) and knees (40.51%), and the least to the elbows (20.68%) and heels (25.86%). The prevalence of these disorders was higher in males, illiterate and low educated individuals, with an agricultural history, deceased spouses and obese individuals than others. There was a significant relationship between the prevalence of MSDs with age (P=0.018, X2=0.245) and body mass index (P=0.02, X2=0.935) (p<0.05).

The results of the present study may be of interest to managers and health officials to plan and take necessary precautions to reduce pain and MSDs and improve the quality of life of the elderly.