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Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was distributed to dental students in Kuwait University, GDPs and dental specialists working in government or private sectors in Kuwait. The questionnaire was distributed in a hard copy version and a web-based version. A modified version of the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire was used to allow the screening of musculoskeletal disorders in nine different body regions (neck, shoulders, upper back, lower back, elbows, low back, wrist/hands, hips/thighs, knees and ankles/feet).
Results: This cross sectional study included 403 subjects. A total 88% responded to the hard copy version and 12% to the web-based version of the questionnaire. Completed questionnaires were collected from 397 subjects. Responses composed of dental students 14.4% (57/397), GDPs 45.8% (182/397) and dental specialists 39.8% (158/397). The sample consisted of 58.1%(230/396) males. The mean age (+/-SD) of the respondents was 33.32 (+/-9.88) years old and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.56 (+/-8.35) kg/m 2 . Dental students had the lowest BMI with a mean of 23.53 (+/-5.18) kg/m 2 (P=0.003). In the total population, 92.4% of all subjects reported at least one general MSD in the past 12 months. The current study also showed that the 12-month period prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal complaint reported in at least one body region is 91.4%. The most prevalent regions reported were the neck 66% (217/329) and low back 62.2% (202/325), while the hips/thighs 10.1% (36/358) and elbows 12.8% (45/352) regions were the least prevalent regions.
Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms among dental students, GDPs and specialists in Kuwait is high. The neck and low back regions were the most prevalent regions.
Keywords: Epidemiology and Occupational health