Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39811960›Full record

ArticleScandinavian journal of work, environment & health2025

Organizational strategies of eldercare work and health - Is the daily number of residents cared for over 14 months associated with back pain?

Christian Tolstrup Wester, Stavros Kyriakidis, Anders Dreyer Frost, Charlotte Diana Nørregaard Rasmussen, Andreas Holtermann, David M Hallman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Christian Tolstrup WesterDepartment of Ergonomic and Physical Working Environment, The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100 København Ø, Copenhagen, Denmark. ctw@nfa.dk.
Stavros Kyriakidis
Anders Dreyer Frost
Charlotte Diana Nørregaard Rasmussen
Andreas Holtermann
David M Hallman

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe growing care demands of an aging population and a smaller workforce is a big societal problem. Therefore, knowledge on how to organize eldercare work without hampering workers` health is needed. We aimed to investigate if workers` daily number of residents cared for over 14 months is associated with low-back pain in eldercare workers.

methodsWe included 513 eldercare workers from 122 wards. In each ward, we gathered quarterly data over 14 months on the number of residents, workers, and work schedules and calculated the daily numbers of residents each worker cared for. Workers reported intensity and days with low-back pain via monthly text messages over 14 months. Using generalized linear mixed models adjusted for confounders, we investigated the association between the number of residents workers cared for daily and low-back pain among those workers.

resultsIn 3-month periods over 14 months, caring for ≥1 resident per day was associated with a 4% [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.07] increased risk of more days with low-back pain, and a 2% (95% CI 1.00-1.03) increase in low-back pain intensity among workers.

conclusionsEldercare workers are at a higher risk of experiencing low-back pain during periods when they care for a greater number of residents each day. Maintaining a consistent number of residents and workload for workers over a 14-month period could serve as an effective organizational strategy to prevent low-back pain.

Indexed as

Low Back PainAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNursing Homes

Identifiers

PMID39811960
PMCPMC12067635

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.