Ferreira, De Souza Conceição, and Hilário Nascimento Salvida, 1997 (retrospective cohort)

106 bank employees (telephone tasks)

History in medical records of one or more periods of upper extremity symptoms with time away from work confirmed by at least two medical specialists (who based the diagnosis on recurrent pain with or without clinical evidence from physical examination of tendon or tendon sheath impairment or nerve entrapment based)

Time pressure increase (i.e., shorter processing time task)

Change in management (new administrative procedures)

Registered overtime work

Rest break opportunities

Limited rest breaks and relatively high time pressure were associated with WRUED

-

-

Roquelaure et al., 1997

65 (55 women, 10 men) cases with CTS matched with 65 controls (55 women, 10 men)

Cases and controls recruited from television manufacturing plant

Case: blue-collar worker, 18-59, with medical history of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) between 1/1/1990 and 12/30/1992. Subjects with a history of CTS problems, diabetes, thyroid or musculoskeletal dysfunction, malignancies, rheumatic diseases before 1990 excluded. Referent: blue-collar, same gender, same year of birth, free of CTS or musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb from 1984 to 1992.

Work organization factors: No job rotation between different work stations

No association for: Autonomy: possibility to choose the way the work is done

Rest break opportunities: duration and number of breaks

6.3

2.1-19.3

NA