Table 1 Description of the study population stratified by the self-reported frequency of manual handling operations

Manual handling operations

 * All participants (n (row%)

6119 (42.8%)

1677 (11.7%)

1922 (13.4%)

4581 (32.0%)

14,299 (100.0%)

 * Men (n (row%))

3476 (39.5%)

1183 (13.4%)

1276 (14.5%)

2874 (32.6%)

8809 (100.0%)

 * Women (n (row%))

2643 (48.1%)

494 (9.0%)

646 (11.8%)

1707 (31.1%)

5490 (100.0%)

Age (years, mean (SD))

47.6 (10.7)

46.4 (11.2)

46.0 (11.3)

45.8 (11.5)

46.7 (11.1)

Women (%)

43.2%

29.5%

33.6%

37.3%

38.4%

Weekly working hours (mean (SD))

43.5 (6.8)

44.2 (7.4)

43.8 (8.1)

44.0 (8.4)

43.8 (7.6)

Psychosocial workload index (index points, mean (SD))

36.4 (10.5)

39.0 (11.4)

40.3 (12.3)

41.6 (12.7)

38.9 (11.8)

Prevalence of hand pain (n (%))

 Men

175 (5.0%)

95 (8.0%)

141 (11.1%)

641 (22.3%)

1052 (11.9%)

 Women

300 (11.4%)

62 (12.6%)

98 (15.2%)

516 (30.2%)

976 (17.8%)

 All

475 (7.8%)

157 (9.4%)

239 (12.4%)

1157 (25.3%)

2028 (14.2%)

Prevalence of arm pain (n (%))

 Men

261 (7.5%)

122 (10.3%)

194 (15.2%)

762 (26.5%)

1339 (15.2%)

 Women

386 (14.6%)

75 (15.2%)

111 (17.2%)

581 (34.0%)

1153 (21.0%)

 All

647 (10.6%)

197 (11.7%)

305 (15.9%)

1343 (29.3%)

2492 (17.4%)

Manual lifting of heavy loads (n (col%))

 Never

4704 (76.9%)

547 (32.6%)

502 (26.1%)

1000 (21.8%)

6753 (47.2%)

 Rarely

994 (16.2%)

825 (49.2%)

562 (29.2%)

871 (19.0%)

3252 (22.7%)

 Sometimes

269 (4.4%)

165 (9.8%)

539 (28.0%)

828 (18.1%)

1801 (12.6%)

 Often

152 (2.5%)

140 (8.3%)

319 (16.6%)

1882 (41.1%)

2493 (17.4%)

Overhead operations (n (%))

 Yes

15 (0.2%)

27 (1.6%)

79 (4.1%)

592 (12.9%)

713 (5.0%)

Cold; heat; wet humidity; draught (n (col%))

 Never

4899 (80.1%)

702 (41.9%)

721 (37.5%)

1559 (34.0%)

7881 (55.1%)

 Rarely

530 (8.7%)

485 (28.9%)

303 (15.8%)

578 (12.6%)

1896 (13.3%)

 Sometimes

455 (7.4%)

265 (15.8%)

583 (30.3%)

878 (19.2%)

2181 (15.3%)

 Often

235 (3.8%)

225 (13.4%)

315 (16.4%)

1566 (34.2%)

2341 (16.4%)