[Occupational Exposure to Psychosocial Factors and Presence of Musculoskeletal disorders in Nursing Staff: A review of Studies and Meta-Analysis].

Background: There is scientific evidence that psychosocial factors are significantly associated with discomfort and / or pain musculoskeletal complaints in nursing staff. The objective of the research was to analyze the association between occupational exposure to psychosocial factors at work and musculoskeletal damage in nursing staff.

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published up to 2015 in English, French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish evaluating the association between musculoskeletal disorders and psychosocial factors in the work of nursing staff. A search was made using the same strategies in the bibliographic databases Web of Science, MEDLINE (Pubmed), NIOSHIC and CINAHL. We assessed the quality of eligible studies, heterogeneity, and sensitivity analyzes.

Results: 64 studies were reviewed and quality criteria were accepted, accepting those of medium and high quality (n = 47). In a second screening, those that did not meet inclusion criteria were eliminated, with 36 studies being included in the meta-analysis. Statistically significant associations were found between high demands with discomfort and / or pain neck (OR 1.55, IC95%: 1.39-1.72). And between the effort-reward imbalance with discomfort and / or pain in any body region (OR 2.56, IC95%: 1.59-4.11). Heterogeneity was generally average and low for most subsets of the meta-analysis.

Conclusions: Occupational exposure to psychosocial factors is associated with discomfort and / or pain in different body areas. Therefore, the improvement of the psychosocial environment has an impact on the reduction and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders.