Association of Long Working Hours with Neck Pain and Headache Among House Officers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61919/avrppj88Keywords:
House officers; duty shifts; neck pain; headache; occupational health; ergonomics.Abstract
Background: Neck pain and headache are common occupational problems among house officers, potentially aggravated by prolonged duty rosters, sustained static postures, and high clinical workload. Objective: To determine the association between duty-shift duration and neck pain severity and headache-related disability among house officers in Sialkot, Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 357 house officers aged 24–28 years from government and private teaching hospitals. All participants reported working ≥70 hours per week and had ≥6 months of experience. Duty-shift duration was categorized as 12-hour versus 24-hour shifts. Pain intensity was assessed using time-anchored numeric ratings (pain right now, usual, best, worst), and headache-related disability using the Headache Disability Inventory (HDI). Associations were examined using Pearson’s chi-square test in SPSS 26.0 (α = 0.05). Results: Most participants worked 24-hour shifts (65.8%) and 54.1% were female. Duty-shift duration was associated with pain “right now” (χ² = 6.309, df = 2, p = 0.043; Cramér’s V = 0.133) and with the “best pain” category (χ² = 7.094, df = 1, p = 0.008; V = 0.141), while associations were not significant for usual pain (p = 0.283) or worst pain (p = 0.059). HDI functional, emotional, and total disability categories were not significantly associated with shift duration (p = 0.479, 0.862, and 0.400, respectively). Conclusion: Extended duty shifts were associated with higher severity in selected pain-intensity categories, whereas headache-related disability categories did not differ significantly by shift duration.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Mahnoor Imtiaz, Maryam Afzal, Rida Siddique, Esha Shabbir, Raveena Rajput (Author)
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