The impact of work, lifestyle and hereditary factors on musculoskeletal diseases

The impact of work-related stress load and lifestyle choices on back disorders will be examined within the Academy of Finland's SALVE research programme by a consortium led by Research Professor Eira Viikari-Juntura, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. The project is based on broad population surveys representing Finnish employees. These surveys cover a total of approximately 25,000 Finns of different ages.

The study will examine the degree to which the more common national diseases, such as musculoskeletal diseases and cardiovascular diseases, share the same risk factors, and will attempt to clarify whether these diseases develop by means of the same mechanisms. The connections between lifestyle factors, i.e. obesity, smoking and stress, and either of these disease categories indicate a certain degree of common origin.

The study will utilise the population study approach, but will also be developing and utilising new methods. The study will clarify, for example, the relative proportion and interaction of work stress factors and individualized factors of the workload in specific professions. For this purpose, the research team will exploit a database comprising extensive research data, and its international co-operation network.

The study will also incorporate in-depth research information concerning factors related to metabolism, and will look at the genetic factors that affect disease mechanisms. Over the next four years, the overall study is expected to provide abundant new information about the causes and risk factors related to back disorders.

As is also the case with mental disorders, musculoskeletal diseases represent one of the most noteworthy disease categories to affect working capacity in Finland. The connection between physical and psychosocial stress factors and musculoskeletal diseases has been shown in many studies. Lifestyles factors, such as obesity and smoking, also affect the development of musculoskeletal diseases. The latest research has shown how the effects of the aforementioned factors differ at different ages and between the sexes. For example, work stress factors appear to be significant already for younger subjects, while the effects of lifestyle factors do not begin to show prominently until middle age. Obesity appears to have more of a connection to back pain in women.

Participants in the study include the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), the universities of Turku, Tampere and Oulu, the Finnish Defence Forces, and the Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

For further information, please contact the coordinator for the research consortium, Research Professor Eira Viikari-Juntura, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, E-mail: eira.viikari-juntura(at)ttl.fi