Musculoskeletal disorders

Headline data from 2008/09 Self-reported Work-related Illness questionnaire module included in the national Labour Force Survey (LFS)

• In 2008/09, an estimated 227 000 people in Great Britain who had worked in the last year believed they were suffering from a musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the back that was caused or made worse by their current or past work, according to the LFS (Table SWIT3W12). This equates to 750 per 100 000 people (0.75%) in Great Britain who worked in the last 12 months.
• Of these, just under a third, 73 000 people, first became aware of their work-related musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the back in the previous 12 months. This equates to an estimated 240 per 100 000 people (0.24%) with a new work-related musculoskeletal disorder mainly affecting the back in this period (Table SWIT6W12).
• The 2008/09 incidence rate was statistically significantly lower than in both 2001/02 and 2006/07, but of a similar order to 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2007/08. (Table SWIT6W12SIG).
• The LFS shows that an estimated 3.5 million working days (full-day equivalent) were lost in 2008/09 through musculoskeletal disorders mainly affecting the back caused or made worse by work (Table SWIT1). On average, each person suffering took an estimated 15.5 days off in that 12 month period. This equates to an annual loss of 0.15 days per worker.
• The number of days lost per worker in 2008/09 was statistically significantly lower than in 2001/02 and 2003/04 but of a similar order to other years over the period 2004/05 to 2007/08 (Table SWIT1SIG).

Demographic and employment related breakdowns from LFS07/08

Detailed analysis from the 2008/09 Labour Force Survey is not yet available. Therefore for analysis by age, sex, region, occupation, industry and workplace size results from the 2007/08 survey provides the latest data. Some summary bullet points follow:

In 2007/08:

• The prevalence rate of self-reported work-related back disorders for males working in the last 12 months was found to be statistically significantly higher than that for females. For males, the 35-44 and 55+ age groups carried the highest rates. Both were statistically significantly higher than for males as a whole (Table BACKAGE1W12)
• The prevalence rates for England, Scotland and Wales were of a similar order (not statistically significantly different); within England, only London carried a statistically significantly lower rate to that of the country as a whole (Table BACKGOR1W12).
• Agriculture, health, construction, and transport industries carried the highest prevalence rates for self-reported work-related back disorders. (see Table BACKIND2_3YR). Certain occupational groups within these industries also have the highest rates (Table BACKOCC2_3YR)
• There did not appear to be any statistically significant differences in prevalence rates between small, medium or large sized businesses during the period 2007/08. (Table BACKSIZE2)

Other information on work-related back disorders from THOR and IIDB sources is available in main MSD commentary.