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Investigating obesity among professional drivers: The high risk professional driver study
Author(s) -
Rosso Gian Luca,
Perotto Massimo,
Feola Mauro,
Bruno Graziella,
Caramella Michele
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22400
Subject(s) - medicine , obesity , overweight , odds ratio , body mass index , confidence interval , cross sectional study , demography , occupational safety and health , environmental health , educational attainment , gerontology , pathology , sociology , economics , economic growth
Objective The aim of this study is to detect the main individual and transportation factors associated with obesity and its prevalence among Italian professional drivers (PDs). Methods We performed a cross‐sectional questionnaire survey. Data from PDs (n = 497) were used for analyses. Results Sixty‐one percent of participants were either overweight or obese according to their body mass index. Predictive factors for obesity were traveling more than 40,000 miles per year (odds ratio [OR] 4.20, confidence interval [CI] 1.41–12.56) and hours spent behind the wheel per day (OR 1.27, CI 1.02–1.58). Bus drivers had half the risk of being obese compared to truck drivers (OR 0.45, CI 0.23–0.87). An inverse association was detected between educational attainment and obesity (OR 0.32, CI 0.11–0.90). Conclusions PDs with high number of driving hours per day, miles driven per year, and low educational level should be subject to special educational programs to reduce and prevent obesity. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:212–219, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.