From Pain to Progress: Comprehensive Analysis of Musculoskeletal Disorders Worldwide

Jinlei Zhou,1,* Shanggao Xie,1,* Sen Xu,1,* Yuan Zhang,2 Yanlei Li,1 Qice Sun,2 Jun Zhang,1,3 Tingxiao Zhao1 1Center for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital (Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College), Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Rheumatology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital Bijie Hospital, Bijie, 551700, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tingxiao Zhao, Center for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital (Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College), Shangtang Road 158#, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Email spinezhaotingxiao@163.com Jun Zhang, Department of Orthopedics, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital Bijie hospital, Guanghui Road 112#, Bijie, Guizhou, People’s Republic of China, Email spinecarezhangjun@163.comObjective: Comprehensive analyses of the burden of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are crucial for deepening our understanding of their impact on population health and for evaluating progress toward achieving international health goals.Study Design: A comprehensive analysis was performed using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021.Methods: We gathered data on the number of prevalent cases, incidences, deaths, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for MSDs from 1990 to 2021. Subsequently, crude indicators, age-standardized rates (ASRs) and estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) were calculated for MSDs from 1990 to 2021 at the global, regional, national, age and gender levels. Finally, decomposition analysis, frontier analysis, and EAPC cluster analysis were employed to examine changes in the indicators and the factors influencing them.Results: In 2021, there were 367,193,430 incident cases and 1,686,561,517 prevalent cases of MSDs globally. Between 1990 and 2021, the age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) declined marginally from 4641.5 to 4351.79 cases per 100,000 population [EAPC: − 0.16 (− 0.19 to − 0.13)], while the age-standardized DALY rates (ASDR) increased from 1886.2 to 1908.87 per 100,000 population [EAPC: 0.09 (0.07 to 0.11)]. The ASRs were markedly elevated in the high SDI regions in comparison to the remaining SDI regions. The EAPC and its phase clustering analyses indicated a notable upward trajectory in the burden of MSDs in the low and middle SDI regions, particularly in Central Asia. The prevalence of MSDs is highest among individuals aged 50– 59 years and among women. At the global level, the burden of MSDs is 1.43 to 2.30 times higher for women than for men.Conclusion: From 1990 to 2021, the burden of MSDs has been concentrated in high SDI regions, with a gradual shift towards low and middle SDI regions.Keywords: musculoskeletal disease, global burden of disease, prevalence, incidence, DALYs, epidemiology