Abstract
The present study was undertaken to assess their cardiovascular responses, energy expenditure, workload, musculoskeletal pain and discomfort along with blood and urine parameters. One hundred forty one bus drivers of Kolkata participated in the study. Their anthropometric measurements were recorded. Their physical examination was conducted and clinical history was recorded. Subjective assessment of workload, pain and discomfort was also done. Metabolic status of drivers was determined by biochemical analysis of blood and spot urine samples. Heart rate was recorded every minute by Polar Heart Rate Monitor. Their average working heart rate (AWHR), peak working heart rate (PWHR) and energy expenditure (EE) were determined. Mean value of BMI (21.9 ± 3.13 kg/m2) indicated the bus drivers as ‘normal’ category; however, there were 26% overweight and 14% underweight subjects. Waist–hip ratio of the subjects indicated that 92% subjects had abdominal obesity. Blood pressure values showed drivers were prehypertensive (52%—systolic, and 50%—diastolic) and hypertensive (18%—systolic and 29%—diastolic). Their health-related complaints indicated chronic stress in the bus drivers. AWHR indicated workload category as moderate. Considering EE of driving a bus, the mean value of 3.86 ± 0.55 kcal/min indicates the workload as light to heavy. Subjective assessment showed workload as extremely heavy (11%), very heavy (39%), heavy (34%) and moderate (16%). Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and discomfort was reported by 31% bus drivers. Although the workload of bus driving is light to very heavy (physiological) and moderate to extremely heavy (subjective), the factors like type and duration of duty hours, demands of beneficiaries such as passengers and employers, non-availability of proper food and drinking water during working hours, etc. are responsible for causing stress to a bus driver. The presence of abdominal obesity in the majority of the bus drivers as evidenced by waist–hip ratio indicates defect in energy metabolism in this group. Biochemical parameters indicate that they are prone to increase cardiovascular risk and at the risk of development of atherosclerosis.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bathija GV, Bant DD, Itagimath SR, Lokare L, Godbole M, Nekar MS, Mahesh DK, Reddi K (2014) A study on stress among government city bus drivers in Hubli. Int J Biomed Res 5:102–104
Burtis CA, Ashwood ER, Bruns DE (eds) (2006) Tietz textbook of clinical chemistry and molecular diagnostics. Elsevier, St. Louis
Chakrabarti D (1997) Indian anthropometric dimensions for ergonomic design practice. National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Chattopadhyay BP, Alam J, Roychowdhury A (2003) Pulmonary function abnormalities associated with exposure to automobile exhaust in a diesel bus garage and roads. Lung 181:291–302
Corlett EN, Bishop RP (1976) A technique for assessing postural discomfort. Ergonomics 19:175–182
Datta SR, Ramanathan NL (1969) Energy expenditure in work predicted from heart rate and pulmonary ventilation. J Appl Physiol 26:297–302
Durnin JVGA, Rahaman MM (1967) The assessment of the amount of fat in the human body from measurements of skinfold thickness. Br J Nutr 21:681–689
Kolkata Traffic Police (2005) We care for you: review for the year 2005. Kolkata Traffic Police: Kolkata, pp 45
Kompier MAJ, Dimartino V (1995) Review of bus drivers’ occupational stress and stress prevention. Stress Med 11:253–262
Lakshman A, Manikath N, Rahim A, Anilkumar VP (2014) Prevalence and risk factors of hypertension among male occupational bus drivers in North Kerala, South India: A Cross-Sectional Study. ISRN Preventive Medicine, vol 2014. Article ID 318532, 9 pages. https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/318532
Leinonen V, Kankaanpää M, Vanharanta H, Airaksinen O, Hänninen O (2005) Back and neck extensor loading and back pain provocation in urban bus drivers with and without low back pain. Pathophysiology 12:249–255
Okunribido OO, Shimbles SJ, Magnusson M, Pope M (2007) City bus driving and low back pain: a study of the exposures to posture demands, manual materials handling and whole-body vibration. Appl Ergon 38:29–38
Pradhan CK (1999) Subjective perception in load handling tasks. Ind J Occup Environ Health 3:74–76
Pradhan CK, Thakur S (2002) Subjective assessment of work stresses in the automobile transport sector. Ergon SA 14:2–7
Sen RN, Nag PK (1975) Work organisation of heavy load handling in India. J Hum Ergol 4:103–113
Sinclair MA (1995) Subjective perception. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN (eds) Evaluation of human work. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 69–100
Singh RB, Fedacko J, Pella D, Macejova Z, Ghosh S, De AK, Begom R, Tumbis ZA, Haque M, Vajpayee SK, de Meester F, Sergey C, Agarwalo R, Muthusamy VV, Five City Study Group, Gupta AK (2011) Prevalence and risk factors for prehypertension and hypertension in five Indian cities. Acta Cardiol 66:29–37
Siri WE (1956) The gross composition of the body. In: Lawrence JH, Tobias CA (eds) Advances in biological and medical physics. Academic Press, New York
Szeto GPY, Lam P (2007) Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in urban bus drivers of Hong Kong. J Occup Rehabil 17:181–198
Tse JLM, Flin R, Mearns K (2006) Bus driver well-being review: 50 years of research. Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav 9:89–114
WHO (2011) Waist circumference and waist–hip ratio: report of a WHO Expert consultation, 8–11 December 2008. World Health Organisation, Geneva
Zheng RD, Chen ZR, Chen JN, Lu YH, Chen J (2012) Role of body mass index, waist-to-height and waist-to-hip ratio in prediction of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Gastroenterol Res Pract 2012:362147. https://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/362147 (Epub 2012 May 31)
Acknowledgements
The investigators are thankful to Indian Council of Medical Research, for sponsoring this project. The authors are also thankful to the Director, National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad and the Officer in Charge, Regional Occupational Health Centre (E), Kolkata for their guidance and support. The investigators are thankful to the bus drivers for their participation in the study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Pradhan, C.K., Chakraborty, I., Thakur, S., Mukherjee, S. (2018). Physiological and Metabolic Status of Bus Drivers. In: Ray, G., Iqbal, R., Ganguli, A., Khanzode, V. (eds) Ergonomics in Caring for People. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4980-4_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4980-4_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4979-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4980-4
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)