Occupational health disparities among U.S. long-haul truck drivers: the influence of work organization and sleep on cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Automobiles* ; Databases, Factual* ; Sleep*; Cardiovascular Diseases/*epidemiology ; Metabolic Syndrome/*epidemiology ; Occupational Exposure/*adverse effects; Adult ; Cardiovascular Diseases/blood ; Cardiovascular Diseases/etiology ; Cholesterol, HDL/blood ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Metabolic Syndrome/blood ; Metabolic Syndrome/etiology ; Middle Aged ; North Carolina/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/adverse effects ; Smoking/blood ; Smoking/epidemiology ; Time Factors

Objective: The organization of work has undergone vast transformations over the past four decades in the United States and has had profound impacts on worker health and wellbeing. The profession of commercial truck driving is one of the best examples. Particularly for long-haul truck drivers, changes in work organization have led to disproportionately poor physiological, psychological, and sleep health outcomes.
Methods: The present study examined disparities in cardiometabolic disease risk among long-haul truck drivers and the general population, and the influence of work organization and sleep in generating these outcomes. Researchers collected survey data from 260 drivers, and blood assay samples from 115 of those drivers, at a large highway truck stop in North Carolina. Comparisons were made for cardiovascular and metabolic risk against the 2011-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In addition, logistic regression was used to explore predictive relationships between work organization and sleep and risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
Results: There were statistically significant mean differences between the long-haul truck driver sample and the NHANES sample for both cardiovascular (3.71 vs. 3.10; p <0.001) and metabolic (4.31 vs. 3.09; p <0.001) disease risk. The truck driver sample was less physically active and had lower HDL cholesterol along with greater levels of smoking, BMI, and metabolic syndrome diagnosis. More years of driving experience and poor sleep quality were statistically significant predictors for both cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk.
Conclusions: Study findings implicate elements of the occupational milieu experienced by long-haul truck drivers that induce disproportionate cardiometabolic disease risk. Sleep quality, largely compromised by poor work conditions and workplace environments, plays a significant role in increased risks for cardiometabolic disease. There is an urgent need for longitudinal studies of this critical occupational sector as well as intervention research centered on policy and systems level change.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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0 (Cholesterol, HDL)

Date Created: 20181116 Date Completed: 20190415 Latest Revision: 20231004

20240105

PMC6237367

10.1371/journal.pone.0207322

30439996