Table 2.

Associations between baseline workplace sitting in 2012 and complaints of neck, shoulder, upper back, and lower back pain in the last 12 months in 2017 (yes/no) among 2,082 employees aged 31–60 years in Germany. Poisson regressions. Prevalence Ratios (PR).

Exposure	12-month prevalence of complaints in different regions of the musculoskeletal system at follow-up
Occupational sitting 2012	Neck n = 1137		Shoulder n = 1102		Upper back n = 635		Lower back n = 1177
	PR	95% CI	PR	95% CI	PR	95% CI	PR	95% CI
Model 1
Under 5 h/week	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)
5 to < 15 h/week	0.99	0.88–1.11	0.98	0.88–1.10	0.99	0.82–1.18	0.95	0.85–1.05
15 to < 25 h/week	1.08	0.96–1.20	0.95	0.84–1.07	1.02	0.85–1.22	0.98	0.88–1.10
25 to < 35 h/week	1.11	0.99–1.24	0.92	0.81–1.04	0.90	0.74–1.11	0.91	0.81–1.02
35 or more hours/week	0.95	0.84–1.08	0.87	0.76–0.99	0.73	0.59–0.91	0.83	0.74–0.94
Model 2
Under 5 h/week	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)
5 to < 15 h/week	0.98	0.87–1.10	0.98	0.87–1.10	1.02	0.84–1.22	0.98	0.88–1.09
15 to < 25 h/week	1.07	0.95–1.20	0.95	0.84–1.07	1.07	0.88–1.29	1.04	0.93–1.17
25 to < 35 h/week	1.10	0.97–1.24	0.92	0.81–1.06	0.96	0.77–1.19	0.97	0.86–1.11
35 or more hours/week	0.95	0.83–1.09	0.88	0.76–1.01	0.78	0.62–0.99	0.90	0.79–1.03
Model 3
Under 5 h/week	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)	1	(Ref)
5 to < 15 h/week	1.01	0.90–1.13	1.03	0.92–1.15	1.10	0.92–1.32	1.02	0.92–1.14
15 to < 25 h/week	1.11	0.98–1.25	1.03	0.91–1.17	1.21	0.99–1.48	1.13	1.01–1.27
25 to < 35 h/week	1.14	1.00-1.31	1.02	0.88–1.17	1.11	0.88–1.39	1.09	0.95–1.24
35 or more hours/week	0.99	0.86–1.15	0.97	0.84–1.13	0.92	0.72–1.18	1.01	0.88–1.16

Model 1: unadjusted

Model 2: adjusted for sex, age, and occupational level

Model 3: adjusted for the covariates in model 2 and BMI, smoking, musculoskeletal diseases at baseline, psychological disorders, lifting/carrying heavy loads at work and leisure time physical activity

PR: prevalence ratio, Ref: reference category