This study aims to determine the prevalence and the distribution of MSDs in a clinical setting, and specifically to investigate how these vary by anatomical region, age group, and gender. This study will examine differences in MSD prevalence by age and sex to identify which demographic subpopulations have a greater risk of developing various MSDs.
This study utilizes a quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design to examine MSD prevalence and its association with age and gender. The data was collected retrospectively, using clinical records of four physical therapy clinics from 2018 to 2023. This study includes patients diagnosed with MSDs where age, gender, and area affected are extracted. Patient data were anonymized for privacy. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, while chi-square tests explored relationships between age and gender with MSD regions, identifying trends and associations within the population.
The analysis of 12,628 patients revealed that most patients were young adults (62.72%) followed by middle-aged individuals (23.57%). The majority were female (59.71%) and the rest were males. The most common MSDs were cervical disorders (28.90%), then lumbar conditions (26.15%). The young adult was the age group with the highest prevalence of cervical (23.2 %) and lumbar disorders (35.3 %) among both males and females; also it has shown significant differences between age groups for both genders. Based on the chi-square tests, differences in MSD prevalence across ages and gender were phenotypes resulting in a strong significant difference (p 0.05).
The majority of patients were young adult females with cervical MSDs. Young adults were found to have the highest prevalence with considerable differences in MSD prevalence between age groups. The higher prevalence of MSDs among genders are females with a significant difference. The organization of educational conferences to address the hazards associated with MSDs and the development of practice strategies are recommended. Investigating MSD patterns concerning other factors like location, habitat, and lifestyle are also advised.
The results from the study encourage the design of specific interventions to ultimately better patient prognoses and increase awareness. These findings can be an indicator of public health policies in urban centers focusing on reducing the burden of MSDs. These results highlight that measures tailored to gender are necessary to address sufficient patient care methods and improve patients' quality of life, disability frequencies, and productivity loss.
Demography
Musculoskeletal Disorders
