Tomoyuki KAWADA^(1)
(1)Department of Public Health. Gunma University School of Medicine - Maebashi. Japan

	[Hygiene, Public Health & Preventive Medicine]	[Occupational Health]

RESULTS

The distribution of the total number of complaints was shown in Fig. 1. About half of the subjects made within five complaints. Percentage of no complaints in male was significantly higher than that in female (24.0% vs 5.7%, p<0.01)Fig. 1.

The items in which the percentage of complaints exceeded 20 % only in female are continuous shoulder or neck stiffness and severe menorrhalgia. Headache, eye strain, dizziness, shoulder or neck stiffness, lumbar or back pain were sometimes complained over 20% both in male and female subjects. Among them, about half of the subjects complained of eye strain, though the VDT workers are under 3% of the target subjects. Related to this figure, 48.3% of the female and 28.5% of male complained of headache (Appendix).

There was a significant difference in the mean value of age among four types of male job by analysis of variance (p<.001) (Table 1). Age of manager was significantly higher and that of researcher was significantly lower than that of the other group, respectively (p<.05). In contrast, there was no significant difference in the mean value of age among three types of female job.

Table 1. Mean value of age divided by job

		Male		Female
Job	No	Mean+-SD (Range)	No	Mean+-SD (Range)
Manufacturer	76	41.5 +- 9.48 (22～57)	49	28.6 +- 7.91 (19～58)
Clerk	44	43.1 +- 9.40 (25～57)	21	31.1 +- 6.26 (23～48)
Researcher	68	33.8 +- 7.11 (22～53)	36	29.9 +- 6.05 (22～47)
Manager	45	48.8 +- 4.78 (40～59)
Total	233	41.0 +- 9.61 (22～59)	106	29.6 +- 7.01 (19～58)

There was a significant differences in the mean value of age among four groups of men´s job (p<0.001). Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparison was applied, and the mean value of age of manager or researcher was significantly different than that of the other groups (p<.05).

Principal axis factoring analysis was conducted on 16 items. Factor loading over .40 was tentatively selected. Some items were different for men and for women, and six factors were extracted, respectively. In men, Factor 1 consisted of seven items, which related to depression and fatigue, accounting for 14.1% of the total variation. Factor 2 consisted of two items, which related to coping, accounting for 6.1% of the total variation. Factor 4 consisted of three items, which related to physical complaint, accounting for 4.5% of the total variation. Factor 3, 5 and 6 consisted of one item each, which related to worry, sleep induction, and stiff shoulder and neck, respectively. These three factors explained 5.8%, 4.3%, and 3.3% of the total variation (Table 2). Cronbach coefficient alpha for Factor 1, 2, and 4 were .76, .63 and .36, respectively. In women, Factor 1 consisted of two items, which related to depression, accounting for 9.2% of the total variation. Factor 2 consisted of three items, which related to worry, accounting for 9.1% of the total variation. Factor 3 consisted of three items, which related to fatigue, accounting for 8.1% of the total variation. Factor 4 consisted of two items, which related to shoulder, neck, and back pain, accounting for 7.3% of the total variation. Factor 5 and 6 consisted of one item each, which related to personal relationship and irregular menstruation, respectively. These two factors explained 5.3%, and 3.9% of the total variation (Table 2). Cronbach coefficient alpha for Factors 1 to 4 were .64, .59, .67 and .52, respectively.

Table 2. Varimax rotated principal axis factor analysis of the questionnaire. Yes response rate of each item higher than 5 % was selected.

Item	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	F6	Comm.
Male
Var 2	.16	-.03	-.05	.52*	.02	.02	.30
Var 5	.07	-.03	.49	.38*	.01	.03	.16
Var 7	-.03	.08	.08	.27*	.03	.13	.10
Var29	.01	.09	.04	.18	.31	-.07	.14
Var35	.08	.14	.06	.19	.01	.55*	.37
Var44	.56*	.14	.08	.08	.25	.08	.41
Var45	.20	-.02	.08	-.11	.62*	.12	.46
Var46	.45*	-.03	.02	-.03	.05	.34	.32
Var47	.41*	.18	-.08	.20	.08	.04	.56
Var48	.58*	.18	.06	.04	.25	.03	.44
Var49	.25	.13	.76*	.15	.19	.07	.72
Var50	.53*	.08	.45	.04	-.08	.12
Var51	.57*	.22	.29	.07	.08	.09	.48
Var52	.31	.53*	.28	-.14	.01	.07	.48
Var53	.56*	.15	.17	.21	-.06	-.10	.42
Var54	.30	.70*	.03	.08	.12	.14	.61
% of exp.	14.08	6.14	5.79	4.49	4.25	3.29
Female
Var 2	.30	.30	.12	.21	.12	.04	.25
Var24	-.04	.00	.01	.02	.05	.33	.11
Var29	.04	-.04	.06	.06	-.22	-.05	.06
Var30	.00	.80*	.18	.08	.10	-.02	.69
Var35	.08	.02	-.07	.72*	-.15	.14	.57
Var36	.03	.17	.14	.56*	.19	.09	.41
Var44	.00	.20	.49*	.33	-.11	-.01	.41
Var45	.87*	.09	.13	.14	-.02	.01	.80
Var46	.30	.17	.11	-.04	.02	-.12	.15
Var48	.26	.33	.60*	-.04	-.05	.00	.54
Var49	.29	.42*	.17	.08	-.14	-.12	.33
Var50	.29	.02	.23	.36	.72*	-.15	.80
Var51	.44*	.29	.68*	-.04	.37	-.07	.89
Var53	.18	.48*	.10	.08	.12	.11	.31
Var56	-.02	.00	-.01	.12	-.07	.59*	.37
Var57	.24	.08	-.21	.01	.06	.26	.18
% of exp.	9.15	9.09	8.14	7.33	5.27	3.89

Factor loadings of 0.4 or higher by rounding are marked.

F1-6:Factor 1-6, Comm: Communality, exp.: explanation

Mean value in the number of subjective complaints divided by job was compared by the analysis of covariance controlling for age, which resulted significant in male (p<.05) (Table 3). Though not significant, the mean value for manufacturer was higher than that for manager (p=.062). In contrast, the mean value in the number of subjective complaints among three types of work was not different in female.

Table 3. Mean value in the number of subjective complaints divided by job

Job	Number	Mean +- SD	Mean (95%CI)
Male			(adjusted for age at 41.0)
Manufacturer	76	7.6 +- 7.70	7.5 (6.1～8.9)
Clerk	44	5.5 +- 4.91	5.2 (3.5～7.1)
Researcher	68	4.8 +- 6.00	5.6 (4.1～7.3)
Manager	45	5.2 +- 5.29	4.3 (2.4～6.3)
Total	233	5.9 +- 6.38
Female			(adjusted for age at 29.6)
Manufacturer	49	8.0 +- 6.19	8.2 (6.5～9.8)
Clerk	21	6.9 +- 4.79	6.6 (4.1～9.2)
Researcher	36	6.3 +- 6.08	6.2 (4.3～8.2)
Total	106	7.2 +- 5.90

There was a significant differences in mean values of subjective complaints among four groups of male job by analysis of covariance controlling for age (p<.05). Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparison was applied, and the mean value of manufacturer was higher than that of manager (p=.062).

Discussion Board

Any Comment to this presentation?

[ABSTRACT] [INTRODUCTION] [MATERIAL & METHODS] [RESULTS] [IMAGES] [DISCUSSION] [CONCLUSIONS] [APPENDIX] [BIBLIOGRAPHY] [Discussion Board]

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	[Hygiene, Public Health & Preventive Medicine]	[Occupational Health]

Tomoyuki KAWADA
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Last update: 4/01/00