PREVALENCE OF WORK-RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG HOUSING CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a major cause of functional impairment and disability among housing construction workers worldwide. A good understanding of ergonomic risk factors in the housing construction industry and the prevalence of MSD symptoms is paramount in implementing the right preventive measures among the construction workers. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of work related MSDs among housing construction workers in Mombasa County, Kenya. Specifically, the study endeavored to find out the occupational activities that can lead to a worker developing MSD symptoms, the presence of MSD symptoms among housing construction workers, the association of MSD symptoms with work activities and the preventive measures put in place to control MSD symptoms among housing construction workers in the selected County. Descriptive cross sectional study design was used. Stratified random sampling was applied to draw a random sample of 354 housing construction workers. Self-administered questionnaires were used for both casual and permanent housing construction workers so as to identify the relationship between duties performed by a worker and the severity of MSD symptoms. An observation checklist was used to record how activities were performed by workers. Data collected from the questionnaires was cleaned, coded, tabulated and subjected to statistical analysis for calculation of frequencies and means. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20.00 was used to analyze the quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to test and determine the prevalence of MSD symptoms among housing construction workers in relation to occupational activities performed, presence of MSD symptoms and extent to which the MSD symptoms were perceived by the respondents as work-related. It was established that majority of housing construction workers in Mombasa County experience regular body pain (98.1%) and that the body pain was caused by the nature of their work. Among those affected, 12% reported pain of the neck, shoulders and hands while 86.1% reported pain of upper and lower limb, knees, ankles and feet. The study alsoestablished that factors contributing most to MSDs were physical factors (61%), work procedures (27.3%), and exposure history (11.7%). The regression analysis established that taking occupational activities, presence of MSD symptoms and perception of MSDs to work-relatedness factors constant at zero, the prevalence of MSDs would be 0.689 (68.9%). A unit increase in occupational activities, presence of MSDs symptoms and extent to which MSDs are perceived as work-related factors, lead to a 0.716 (71.6%) increase in prevalence of MSDs. Further, it was observed that at 5% level of significance (95% level of confidence), workplace activities and work procedures, had a 0.000 level of significance. The Chi square was calculated and the value obtained was 0.657, ( p-value 0.000).This shows that the variable was significant (p<0.05) and the data obtained is significant. The body mass index data also showed 2% correlation between exposure to MSDs and BMI. This is the first research to demonstrate influence of BMI and MSDs exposure in Mombasa County.