Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2022 June, 257(2)

Association between Prior and Later Occurrence of Shoulder Pain Episodes: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Yoshihiro Hagiwara,¹ Yutaka Yabe,¹ Takuya Sekiguchi,¹ Yumi Sugawara,² Masahiro Tsuchiya³ and Ichiro Tsuji²

¹Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
²Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Informatics and Public Health, Tohoku University Graduate School of Public Health, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
³Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Science, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

Shoulder pain is more common among survivors of natural disasters than the general population. This study aimed to examine the occurrence of shoulder pain, especially the association between prior and later shoulder pain episodes, in survivors living in coastal areas severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) (n = 1,821) over a period of 5 years. The presence of shoulder pain was assessed at 2 (first period), 4 (second period), and 7 (third period) years after the disaster. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between shoulder pain during the first and second periods and shoulder pain during the third period. Shoulder pain in the first period was significantly associated with shoulder pain in the third period [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 5.93; 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.06-8.66]. Furthermore, shoulder pain in the first and second periods was significantly associated with shoulder pain in the third period. With the absence of shoulder pain in both the first and second periods used as the reference, adjusted ORs for the presence of shoulder pain during each period and both periods were 4.58 (95% CI 3.17-6.62) and 15.54 (95% CI 8.38-28.84), respectively (P for trend < 0.001). Thus, prior shoulder pain was significantly associated with shoulder pain after 5 years among GEJE survivors, and the association was stronger as the number of prior shoulder pain episodes increased. This expertise should be shared with other expert teams to address the affected people and prepare for future disasters.

Keywords —— Great East Japan Earthquake; longitudinal study; musculoskeletal pain; shoulder pain; survivors

© 2022 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med 2022, 257, 107-115.

Correspondence: Yoshihiro Hagiwara, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8574, Japan.

e-mail: hagi@med.tohoku.ac.jp