Abstract
Background: The issues of long working hours and short sleep among professional drivers are increasing worldwide, making it necessary to study their health hazards. Obesity among professional drivers and conductors is becoming an equally challenge now a days. In the present study, we investigated the association between long working hours and short sleep with body mass index (BMI) among male drivers and conductors in the city of Multan, Pakistan.
Methods: The cross-sectional sample of 345 participants (197 drivers and 148 conductors) was taken using a convenient sampling technique with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. From the participants, the data were collected about their daily working hours, sleeping hours and working period. Anthropometric measurements (weight and height) of each participant were taken to calculate BMI. Along with descriptive statistics and percentages, Chi-square test was used to examine the association in the full sample and stratified by study participants (i.e. drivers and conductors).
Results: The mean (+/- standard deviation: SD) of age, BMI, daily working and sleeping hours of all the participants were32.98 +/- 11.17 years, 24.35 +/- 4.65 Kg/m(2), 9.32 +/- 3.49 hours and 7.79 +/- 1.69 hours, respectively. There were statistically significant association between the short sleep and long working hours with obesity (chi(2) = 17.37, p-value < 0.01 and chi(2) = 14.43, p-value 0.01, respectively).
Conclusion: The present study concludes that both short sleep and long working hours are significantly associated with obesity among professional drivers and conductors.