The Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and its Relation with Fatigue and Occupational Burnout in the Staff of a Petrochemical Industry

Occupational burnout is a sign of various fatigue states and can cause diseases like musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relation with fatigue and occupational burnout in the staff of a petrochemical industry.

The present study is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 121 personnel working in a petrochemical industry in 2017. For data collection, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) questionnaire, Nordic questionnaire, and Maslach Burnout questionnaire were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and the significance level was considered 0.05.

In general, 71.1% of the subjects suffered from at least one musculoskeletal disorder in their organs during the past year. There was no significant relation between musculoskeletal disorders and occupational burnout. Musculoskeletal disorders were significantly associated with decreased motivation (P=0.035), one of the fatigue domains. Musculoskeletal disorders were also significantly related with the type of occupation (P = 0.017).

Musculoskeletal disorders are probably related with some fields of fatigue and burnout. Further studies should be done.