ArticleInternational archives of occupational and environmental health2020
Occupational lifting predicts hospital admission due to low back pain in a cohort of airport baggage handlers.
Article in International archives of occupational and environmental health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incidence of and risk factors for lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy in adults: a systematic review.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of manual handling weight for lifting and carrying on the severity of acute occupational low back pain.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2025Article
- The relation of musculoskeletal disorders to ergonomic work demands in welders and electrical workers: a prospective Canadian cohort study.Annals of work exposures and health · 2025Article
- Assessment of Load Manual Lifting among Shelf-Stoking Workers in Chain Stores: A Cross-Sectional Study.Applied bionics and biomechanics · 2024Article
- Association of objectively measured lifting load with low-back pain, stress, and fatigue: A prospective cohort study.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Article
- Intervertebral disc degeneration-Current therapeutic options and challenges.Frontiers in public health · 2023Review
- Influence of Load Knowledge on Biomechanics of Asymmetric Lifting.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Exploring pain phenotypes in workers with chronic low back pain: Application of IMMPACT recommendations.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine if occupational lifting assessed as cumulative years as a baggage handler is associated with first-time hospital diagnosis or treatment for low back disorders.
methodsThis study is based on the Copenhagen Airport Cohort consisting of male baggage handlers performing heavy lifting every day and a reference group of unskilled men from the greater Copenhagen area during the period 1990-2012. We followed the cohort in the National Patient Register and Civil Registration System to obtain information on diagnoses, surgery, mortality, and migration. The outcomes were first-time hospital diagnosis or surgery for (1) lumbar disc herniation or (2) low back pain (LBP).
resultsBaggage handlers (N = 3473) had a higher incidence rate of LBP, but not of lumbar disc herniation, compared to the reference group (N = 65,702). Baggage handlers with longer employment had a higher incidence of LBP compared to baggage handlers with shorter employment. The linear association of cumulative years as a baggage handler on LBP was significantly increased with an incidence rate ratio of 1.16 (95% CI 1.07-1.25) for a 5-year increase of employment as baggage handler.
conclusionsIn this large cohort study, we found an increased incidence of LBP among baggage handlers compared to the reference group with indications of a dose-response relationship between years of employment and the outcome. For baggage handlers working on the apron, the incidence was particularly increased before introduction of technical lifting equipment, suggesting that preventive measures to reduce cumulative work load may have a positive effect.
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