Cervical spondylosis among interventional electrophysiologists

Cervical spondylosis among interventional electrophysiologists

Study by David Birnie, Jeff S Healey, Andrew D Krahn, Kamran Ahmad, Eugene Crystal, Yaariv Khaykin, Vijay Chauhan, Francois Philippon, Derek Exner, Bernard Thibault, Tomascz Hruczkowski, Pablo Nery, Arieh Keren and Damian Redfearn from Canada [1] found an increased prevalence of cervical spondylosis among  electrophysiologists, compared to matched non interventional cardiologists (20.7% vs 5.5%, P = 0.033).

The authors surveyed 70 interventional electrophysiologists using electronic survey with in person and email reminders. Control group was an age and gender matched group of non interventional cardiologists. Fifty eight of the seventy electrophysiologists responded, giving a response rate of 82.8%.

Those with cervical spondylosis were older and had worked in the specialty for longer periods. There was also a trend for increased prevalence of lumbar spondylosis (25.9% vs 16.7%, P = 0.298).

There were no difference in other variables like gender, height, weight, body mass index, type of lead apron, weekly average time of wearing the apron and percentage of time standing in the catlab. Interestingly, there were no independent predictors on multivariate analysis.

Authors recommend programs to improve ergonomics and minimizing time spent wearing lead as a preventive measures. They suggest that same vigilance that is used to ensure radiation safety should be there in creating ergonomic safety.

References

1. David Birnie, Jeff S Healey, Andrew D Krahn, Kamran Ahmad, Eugene Crystal, Yaariv Khaykin, Vijay Chauhan, Francois Philippon, Derek Exner, Bernard Thibault, Tomascz Hruczkowski, Pablo Nery, Arieh Keren, Damian Redfearn. Prevalence and Risk Factors for Cervical and Lumbar Spondylosis in Interventional Electrophysiologists. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2011 Sep;22(9):957-60.