PAPERZILLA
Crunching Academic Papers into Bite-sized Insights.
About
Sign Out
← Back to papers
Health Sciences › Health Professions › Medical Laboratory Technology
Prevalence and Predictors of Musculoskeletal Pain Among Undergraduate Students at a Dental School in Saudi Arabia
★
★
★
★
☆
SHARE
Overview
Paper Summary
Conflicts of Interest
Identified Weaknesses
Rating Explanation
Good to know
Topic Hierarchy
File Information
Paper Summary
Paperzilla title
91% of Dental Students Feel the Pain: Neck, Shoulders, and Lower Back Take the Biggest Hit!
A whopping 91.2% of dental students experienced musculoskeletal pain in the past year, primarily in the neck, shoulders, and lower back. Being female increased the risk, but regular exercise offered some protection against the aches and pains.
Possible Conflicts of Interest
None identified
Identified Weaknesses
Recall bias
The study relies on self-reported data from a questionnaire, which can be subject to recall bias and social desirability bias. Participants may not accurately remember their MSK pain experiences or may underreport their symptoms due to social stigma or fear of negative consequences.
Cross-sectional design
The cross-sectional design limits the ability to establish causal relationships between risk factors and MSK pain. It is difficult to determine whether the identified predictors actually cause MSK pain or are simply associated with it.
Limited generalizability
The study was conducted at a single dental school in Saudi Arabia, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other populations. The prevalence and predictors of MSK pain may vary across different cultural contexts and educational systems.
Unmeasured confounders
Although the study collected data on several potential risk factors, there may be other unmeasured confounders that contribute to the development of MSK pain. For instance, factors such as individual stress levels, pre-existing medical conditions or workstation setup could influence the outcome.
Inconsistent findings regarding height
The study found that increased height was initially associated with MSK pain, but this association lost statistical significance in the multivariate model. This might be due to the large number of missing values in the multivariate analysis or indicate other uncontrolled factors influencing this relationship.
Rating Explanation
The study provides valuable insights into a highly prevalent issue among dental students. While using a cross-sectional design and relying on self-reported data, it boasts a good response rate and employs validated questionnaires. The identification of gender and exercise as significant predictors is relevant for designing preventive strategies. Minor methodological limitations prevent a top rating.
Good to know
This is our free standard analysis. Paperzilla Pro fact-checks every citation, researches author backgrounds and funding sources, and uses advanced AI reasoning for more thorough insights.
Explore Pro →
Topic Hierarchy
File Information
Original Title:
Prevalence and Predictors of Musculoskeletal Pain Among Undergraduate Students at a Dental School in Saudi Arabia
File Name:
getfile.php.pdf
[download]
File Size:
0.39 MB
Uploaded:
July 14, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Privacy:
🌐 Public
© 2025 Paperzilla. All rights reserved.