2005). Two find more studies reported no clear definition of musculoskeletal complaints (Failde et al. 2000; Wolf et al. 2000). Different types of prevalences have been assessed: point prevalence, annual prevalence and lifetime prevalence. Besides different definitions used, musculoskeletal complaints were also assessed in different

ways. Three studies used existing questionnaires: two of these studies used the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire (Smith et al. 2006; Szeto et al. 2009) and one study used the health and back pain survey (Cunningham et al. 2006). A self-formulated questionnaire was used in three studies (Berguer et al. 1999; Johnston et al. 2005; Karahan et al. 2009), whereas two studies (Failde et al. 2000; Wolf et al. 2000) did not report about the questions used. Prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints selleck chemicals llc First, three medium-quality studies reported about the prevalence of hand and wrist pain. The results for the frequently reported prevalence of hand and wrist pain were found between 8 (Berguer et al. 1999) and 33% (Johnston et al. 2005), and the occasionally reported prevalence of hand and wrist pain were 36 (Berguer et al. 1999) and 67% (Wolf et al. 2000). Only NSC23766 ic50 Johnston et al. (2005) examined the frequently reported prevalence for forearm pain (25 and 4%). Wolf et al. (2000) found an occasionally reported prevalence of elbow

pain of 11%. Next, two medium-quality studies and two high-quality studies reported shoulder pain. Two studies found a frequently reported prevalence between 0 (Johnston et al. 2005) and 17% (Wolf et al. 2000). Two studies reported about the annual prevalence for shoulder pain of 38 (Smith et al. 2006) and 58% (Szeto et al. 2009). The occasionally and frequently reported prevalence of shoulder/arm pain was 43 and 12%, respectively (Berguer et al. 1999). Furthermore, neck pain was described by four studies (two medium-quality studies and two high-quality studies). They found frequently reported prevalences of 9 and 28% and an occasionally reported prevalence of 43%. The annual prevalences Tangeritin of neck pain were 42 and 83%. Lastly, two medium-quality studies and three high-quality

studies reported a prevalence for back pain. Failde et al. (2000) found a prevalence for low back pain (LBP) of 80%. Cunningham et al. (2006) reported a point prevalence for LBP of 24%, an annual prevalence of 33% and a lifetime prevalence of 67%. Compared to the annual prevalence for LBP of Cunningham, three other studies showed prevalences between 44 and 68% (Karahan et al. 2009; Smith et al. 2006; Szeto et al. 2009). Wolf et al. (2000) reported an occasional prevalence of LBP of 33%. Next to LBP, Smith et al. (2006) and Szeto et al. (2009) also presented the annual prevalences of the upper back and this was 29 and 53%. Discussion This review focused on the incidence and prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among hospital physicians.