REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
This article is part of the Research TopicNavigating Environmental Hazards in the Workplace: Impacts and InterventionsView all 28 articles
Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Older Hospital Cleaners: A Systematic Review of Prevalence and Risk Factors
Provisionally accepted
Wei Zhou1*
Kaizhi Gu2*- 1Department of Art, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing University of the Arts, Nanjing, China
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Introduction: Hospital cleaning involves unique risk factors including chemical exposures, infection control procedures, and physically demanding tasks that may have greater impact on older workers compared to their younger counterparts. While existing systematic reviews have examined musculoskeletal disorders among cleaning workers, none have specifically focused on older hospital cleaners. With global workforce aging and increasing employment of older adults in healthcare settings, understanding musculoskeletal disorder prevalence and specific risk factors in this population is essential for developing targeted prevention strategies. The primary objective of this systematic review is to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among older hospital cleaners and identify associated risk factors. Methods: We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar from inception to July 11, 2025. Two reviewers independently screened titles, abstracts, and full texts. Data extraction included study characteristics, participant demographics, prevalence data, and risk factors. Quality assessment was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. Results: Eleven studies were included. Among older hospital cleaners (aged 50+ years), musculoskeletal disorder prevalence ranged from 49.1% to 68.96% across age-stratified studies. Several factors appeared to be associated with MSD risk in this population, including work demands, individual factors (age, gender, inadequate rest time, stress, and posture), technology-related factors, and organizational factors. Discussion: This systematic review identified multiple risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among older hospital cleaners. The findings provide evidence to inform occupational health policies and targeted prevention strategies for this vulnerable population.
Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders1, older hospital cleaners2, Prevalence3, Risk Factors4, Systematic Review5
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou and Gu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wei Zhou, 101012832@seu.edu.cn
Kaizhi Gu, 773469019@qq.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.