Case-Control Study Carried Out by Applying the Nordic Questionnaire in Patients Treated At the Emergency Department (PA), Faculty Medicine's Botucatu, SP, Brazil (FMB/UNESP)

The study investigate the relationship between musculoskeletal symptoms and the occurrence of occupational accidents-AT (cases-CA) and the same type of accident outside of work (control-CO). Methodology: it was used as research the Nordic Questionnaire, that assesses musculoskeletal symptoms in these parts of the body: neck, shoulder, upper back, elbow, hand/wrist, lower back, hips/thighs, kness, ankles/feet, by four questions (with answers such as yes or no): 1^st-if you had problems (pain, tingling/numbness) in some part of the body in the last 12 months; 2^nd-if you were unable to perform activities (work, leisure) in the last 12 months; 3^rd-if you had an appointment with a health professional in the past 12 months; 4^th-if you have had problems in the last 7 days before the accident. Conducted with 71 patients in Botucatu (41 CA/30 CO) PA seen at FMB. It was evaluated for sex, age group (16-60 years), presence or absence to questions related problems. Statistical analysis used the chi-square test. Results: we found that women suffer less AT than men (p=0.007). The average age of the CA was 34.85 (17-56) and 36.9 of CO (16-57). Regarding the 1^st question, no significant difference between CO and CA. For 2^nd, it was observed a prevalence of problems in the wrist/hands among the CO, a significant difference (p=0.03). This implies a lower incidence of AT, being able to be prevented by absence from work. For the other parts of the body there was no significant difference. For 3^rd, there was no statistically significant difference. For 4^th, it was observed that patients with problems in the upper back (p=0.029) and hip/thigh (p=0.017) were more prone to AT, for the other parts’ body examined there was no significant difference. Conclusion: patients with musculoskeletal symptoms and that act preventively, are less pre-disposition to the occurrence of an accident.