Epidemiology of work-related musculo-skeletal disorders among adults in Ethiopia: a systematic review protocol

Abstract Background: Musculoskeletal disorders among the working population are a major public health problem, resulting in significant personal and national economic loss. However, in Ethiopia, the cloud of infectious and non-communicable diseases has led to a lack of attention to work-related musculoskeletal disorders and empirical under-representation. This systematic review and meta-analysis will provide the pooled prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its determinant factors among the adult working population in Ethiopia. Method: The electronic databases MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, Science Direct index, SCOPUS, PEDro, and Google Scholar will be systematically searched. In addition, the grey literature resources such as databases or websites of dissertations and theses will be searched. The reference list of screened articles will also be hand searched. All observational studies reporting on the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal pain of any bodily region among adult Ethiopians will be included. Random and quality effects models will be used to calculate pooled prevalence with a 95 % confidence interval. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses will be performed. Publication bias and heterogeneity between the included studies will also be assessed and reported. Discussion: The proposed systematic review and meta-analysis will provide valid insight into the pooled prevalence of multi-regional work-related musculo-skeletal pain and factors associated to assist policymakers in occupational health and health care sectors. And further, we strongly believe that the data will also immensely help the understanding of the factors associated and in developing evidence-based musculo-skeletal health promotion, work exposure implementations,and prevention programs in workplaces.