Jirsaraei, M. J.; Lee, S.; DeStefano, S.; Gerber, L. H.; Ji, W. and Sikdar, S. (2026) Multidomain analysis of chronic pain intensity in labor-intensive occupations: Insights from network and regression modeling. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 152(8): 04026110, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Construction workers face high exposure to physically demanding and repetitive tasks, making them vulnerable to chronic musculoskeletal pain. While prior studies often evaluate pain risk factors in isolation, this study uses an integrative framework, combining correlationanalysis,networkmodeling,andordinalregression,toidentifykeypredictorsofpainintensityamongconstructionlaborers.Avalidated survey was administered to 90 workers, capturing data on physical function, mental health, sleep disturbance, job characteristics, injury history, anddemographics.Surveydomainswerevalidatedusingreliabilitytestingandexploratoryfactoranalysis.Spearmancorrelationsshowedstrong associations between pain intensity and awkward postures (ρ = 0.60), sleep disturbance due to pain (ρ = 0.69), fatigue (ρ = 0.75), and injury frequency (ρ = 0.86). Network analysis revealed that pain interference, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and injury frequency were structurally central variables.Regressionmodelingidentifiedsleepdisturbance(p = 0.004),repetitivetaskdifficulty(p = 0.003),injuryfrequency(p <. 0.001),and age (p = 0.001) as significant predictors. The findings highlight the value of a multidimensional approach in understanding chronic pain risks in labor-intensivework.Thisframeworksupportstargetedsafetyinterventionsandoffersafoundationforproactiveworkerhealthmonitoringinthe construction industry.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | chronic pain; construction workers; injury prevention; network analysis |
| Index terms: | network analysis, pain, risk factor, mental health, construction worker, construction industry, prevention, injury, survey, regression modelling, face, fatigue, occupation, history, exposure |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, statistical analysis, health conditions and diseases, sociology, public and environmental health, data analysis and analytics, architectural and construction history, data collection methods, environmental hazards, financial risk, psychology, practitioner |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Sustainability, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Cost Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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