Recent research from Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong: Cardiovascular Risks in Bus Drivers in Hong Kong in Relation to Road Safety

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 5 November 2020 – A
recent increase in bus accidents has raised public concerns about bus drivers’
health in relation to road safety. According to a study in the latest issue of Hong
Kong Medical Journal, Hong Kong bus drivers are at greater risk of hypertension
and other cardiovascular diseases than their non-bus driving counterparts
because of chronic overwork, physical inactivity, and smoking. In order to
enhance road safety, researchers have called for actions against long working
hours and associated health hazards for bus drivers.

The
medical research team from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong
Kong conducted a survey on 255 bus drivers and 252 non-bus drivers in Hong
Kong, aged 25 to 84 years. It was found that 80% of bus drivers work 10 to 14
hours per day, with a majority of them having shifts of over 6 hours. In
addition, less than 10% of them reported that they exercised for at least an
hour on a daily basis. It was also discovered that nearly half of the bus
drivers interviewed were smokers, compared with only 20% of their non-bus driving
counterparts. In addition, over 60% of bus drivers had a systolic blood
pressure of over 130 mm Hg — Hypertension Stage 1 as defined by the American
Heart Association, which was 10% higher than non-bus drivers.

The
QRISK3 — a tool to assess a person’s risk of developing a heart attack or
stroke over the next 10 years — was adopted by the medical research team. The
results showed the relative risk among bus drivers was 2.41, compared with 1.84
in non-bus drivers. The team attributed it to low exercise levels, poor job
satisfaction, and long working hours. The findings also indicated that the odds
of developing hypertension in bus drivers was 1.62-times higher than in non-bus
drivers, which could be a result of physical inactivity and smoking.

The
research team emphasised the importance of maintaining bus drivers’ health in
regard to road safety. It called for the implementation of appropriate measures
and provide bus drivers with regular health checks in order to safeguard bus
drivers against overwork and associated health hazards.

The research paper has been published in
Hong Kong Medical Journal, please go for details in the original paper –

Cardiovascular
risk in bus drivers

Hong Kong
Med J 2020;26:451–6

https://www.hkmj.org/abstracts/v26n5/451.htm