Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41194102›Full record

ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2025

Longitudinal study of knee pain amongst workers in the Cultural and Psychosocial Influences on Disability (CUPID) study.

G Ntani, V E Felli, F Harari, L H Barrero, M Rojas, C Serra, M Bonzini, E Merisalu, R R Habib, F Sadeghian and 5 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 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

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.

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

15 authors.

G NtaniMedical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. gn@mrc.soton.ac.uk.
V E FelliSchool of Nursing, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
F HarariCorporación para el Desarrollo de la Producción y el Medio Ambiente Laboral - IFA (Institute for the Development of Production and the Work Environment), Quito, Ecuador.
L H BarreroDepartment of Industrial Engineering, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.
M RojasProgram Health, Work and Environment in Central America, Institute for Studies On Toxic Substances (IRET), National University of Costa Rica, Heredia, Costa Rica.
C SerraCenter for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute)/University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
M BonziniUniversity of Milan and IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Foudation, Milan, Italy.
E MerisaluInstitute of Forestry and Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia.
R R HabibDepartment of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.
F SadeghianCenter for Health Related Social and Behavioral Sciences Research, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran.
A R WickremasingheDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
K MatsudairaDepartment of Pain Medicine, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, Japan.
H L KelsallMonash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
H HarcombeDepartment of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
K Walker-BoneMedical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundKnee pain is common in the general population, increasingly so with age. It causes substantial disability which can lead to premature exit from the workforce. Current epidemiological data on knee pain prevalence in working-age populations are limited, particularly concerning the interplay of occupational, psychosocial, and cultural factors. To address this, in a large group of workers, we examined the prevalence of knee pain longitudinally, its relationship with pain at other sites and personal and occupational risk factors for pain at follow-up.

methodsData came from the CUPID study, a cohort study including people aged 20-59 years at work from 18 countries in broadly three types of occupations: office work, nurses and manual workers. Baseline data were collected on knee pain, pain at other anatomical sites, occupational characteristics and psychosocial aspects of work. Follow-up information about knee pain was obtained approximately a year later. Descriptive statistics were used to describe knee pain prevalence and characteristics as well as persistence. Poisson regression was used to explore baseline factors in relation to knee pain, and disabling knee pain, at follow-up.

resultsIn total 9,161 workers provided baseline and follow-up data, amongst whom 28% reported knee pain in the past year and 21% knee pain in the past month at baseline. 79% of workers with knee pain reported disability. The prevalence increased with age and was higher among women. Only 8% of workers with knee pain had single-site pain. There was wide variation in the prevalence rates reported amongst workers even doing broadly similar work. Psychosocial and occupational work demands predicted knee pain at follow-up, as did poorer mental health and somatisation but the highest effect size was found amongst people reporting a high number of painful sites at baseline (PRR: 2.06,95%CI: 1.78-2.39).

conclusionsKnee pain is prevalent in the workforce, even at younger ages. It is commonly persistent and disabling. Given its link with work disability, the emphasis needs to be on prevention and both mechanical and psychosocial exposures at work are implicated. However, like low back pain, other factors appear to be important, particularly pain at other sites.

trial registrationClinical trial number: not applicable.

Indexed as

ArthralgiaKnee JointOccupational DiseasesPersons with DisabilitiesAdultDisability EvaluationFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementPrevalenceRisk FactorsYoung AdultCentral sensitisationKnee painMultisite painOccupational physical demandsPsychosocialWork disability

Identifiers

PMID41194102
PMCPMC12590909

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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 Socratic graph.