Metabolic syndrome among professional bus and truck drivers in Kashan, 2008

The literature data and our own studies show that in drivers of transport vehicles, work-related risk factors for arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and metabolic syndrome are largely intensified. These involve occupational risk factors as well as classic ones, such as obesity, limited physical activity, shift work, or tobacco smoking. However, studies published over the past two decades on the health of bus and truck drivers have received relatively less attention in developing countries. In a cross-sectional study 429 Kashan City male bus and truck drivers that enter the occupational health service for health examination were enrolled. The study focused on the presence of the metabolic syndrome, as defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (NCEP ATP III) and statistical tests such as t-test, chi-square test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to ATP-III was 35.9% mostly at age range 30-39 years. The prevalence of overweight was 41%; Obesity, 23.1%; hypertension, 42.9%; Diabetes, 7%; hypertriglyceridemia, 53.4% and low HDL cholesterol, 48.7%. In addition, between diabetes and hypertension and between hypertension and smoking meaningful relation was seen (p=0.006). We observed a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in these groups to be significantly higher than other groups in Iran. So, Occupation must be considered as a risk factor for impaired health status, leading to temporary or permanent disability to work.