IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i11p6779-d830021.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders among Thai Burley Tobacco Farmers

Author

Listed:
  • Amarin Kongtawelert

    (Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, 420/1 Rajvidhi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Bryan Buchholz

    (Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell, One University Ave, Lowell, MA 01854, USA)

  • Dusit Sujitrarath

    (Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, 420/1 Rajvidhi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Wisanti Laohaudomchok

    (Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, 420/1 Rajvidhi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Pornpimol Kongtip

    (Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, 420/1 Rajvidhi Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Susan Woskie

    (Department of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, One University Ave, Lowell, MA 01854-2867, USA)

Abstract

This cross-sectional analysis study aimed to identify the prevalence and factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Thai Burley tobacco farmers. Subjects included 603 burley tobacco farmers from Sukhothai province. Farmers were interviewed twice, (during planting and harvesting seasons), with a questionnaire consisting of demographic and health characteristics, musculoskeletal symptoms, and ergonomic exposure questions. The subjects average age was 49.5 years, more were female (58.5%), most had only a primary education (74.3%), 38% were overweight or obese. Farmers had a significantly higher prevalence of MSDs in the lower back (37.1%), knee (28.7%), shoulder (22.9%), wrist (19.9%), and hip (8.3%) during the harvesting season than in the planting season ( p < 0.05). Models found that factors influencing MSDs prevalence during planting included long work hours in seedling, tasks such as topping tobacco plants, and using machine tools, after controlling for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI). While in the harvesting season, models found tasks conducted as a group had lower MSDs prevalence than individual work when carrying fresh tobacco to the barn, piercing/threading and curing the leaves, baling the bundles, and transporting the finished goods. We recommended working in groups to reduce workload and MSDs, especially during harvesting, in burley tobacco farming.

Suggested Citation

  • Amarin Kongtawelert & Bryan Buchholz & Dusit Sujitrarath & Wisanti Laohaudomchok & Pornpimol Kongtip & Susan Woskie, 2022. "Prevalence and Factors Associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders among Thai Burley Tobacco Farmers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6779-:d:830021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6779/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6779/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Priyanka Ravi & Kiranmayee Muralidhar & Maiya G. Block Ngaybe & Shivamma Nanjaiah & Poornima Jayakrishna & Ashley A. Lowe & Karl Krupp & Amanda M. Wilson & Frank A. von Hippel & Zhao Chen & Lynn B. Ge, 2024. "Qualitative Study to Explore the Occupational and Reproductive Health Challenges among Women Tobacco Farm Laborers in Mysore District, India," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(5), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Parnchon Chokprasit & Supabhorn Yimthiang & Siriluk Veerasakul, 2022. "Predictors of Low Back Pain Risk among Rubber Harvesters," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-13, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6779-:d:830021. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.