# First results of the application of the Latin Questionnaire in comparison with populations of reference workers obtained through preliminary epidemiological studies

## TL;DR

The Latin Questionnaire is a new tool for studying work-related musculoskeletal disorders by comparing affected workers with a reference group.

## Contribution

The Latin Questionnaire introduces a standardized, digital-friendly protocol for assessing musculoskeletal disorders with a severity threshold.

## Key findings

- The questionnaire identifies musculoskeletal disorders in the spine and limbs with statistical significance.
- Digital implementation allows easy comparison of exposed and unexposed worker data.
- Application examples show the tool's effectiveness in detecting disorder prevalence differences.

## Abstract

The authors proposed an application study of the Latin Questionnaire, an
updated protocol to conduct the anamnestic study of work-related
musculoskeletal disorders through closed questions and the introduction of a
predetermined severity threshold that allows for epidemiological studies to
be conducted, comparing the results of the exposed population with those of
a reference population. Background: Similar protocols describing
work-related musculoskeletal disorders occurring in the previous 12 months
are available in the literature. For many of these, problems arise when the
results must be processed collectively.

Here we present application examples, with comments on the results in terms
of statistical significance of the comparison.

The anamnestic study of the Latin Questionnaire is based on symptoms:
discomfort, pain, and evaluation of paresthesia. Each symptom is described
considering: location, duration, number of episodes, irradiation, and
treatment. The model, which covers the previous 12 months, is designed to
identify in the spine, upper and lower limbs: positive anamnestic case, case
with minor disorders, negative case.

The original application examples show the scope of the disorders presented
in the groups of workers exposed to known risk, in comparison with those of
the reference group: the significance of the differences is estimated
statistically.

The Latin Questionnaire, also implemented in the digital format (free to
download), allows for comparing the data of exposed and unexposed workers
and their statistical significance easily and automatically.