Objectives: Elevated risk factors for a number of chronic diseases have been identified in lorry drivers. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as a lack of physical activity (PA) and high levels of sedentary behaviour (sitting) likely contribute to this elevated risk. This study behaviourally phenotyped UK lorry drivers’ sedentary and non-sedentary behaviours during workdays and non-workdays and examined markers of drivers cardio-metabolic health. Setting: a transport company from the East Midlands, UK.
Participants: a sample of 159 male heavy goods vehicle drivers (91% White European; [median(Range)] age: 50(24, 67)years) completed the health assessments. 87 (age: 50.0(25.0, 65.0); BMI: 27.7(19.6, 43.4)kg/m2) provided objective information on sedentary and non-sedentary time. Outcomes: Participants self-reported their socio-demographic information. Primary outcomes: Sedentary behaviour and PA, assessed over 7 days using an activPAL3 inclinometer. Cardio-metabolic markers included: blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), body composition, and fasted capillary blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides (TGs), HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-Cholesterol (LDL-C) and Total-Cholesterol (TC) levels. These cardio-metabolic markers were treated as secondary outcomes. Results: Lorry drivers’ presented an unhealthy cardio-metabolic health profile (median (IQR-ranges) Systolic BP: 129(108.5, 164) mmHg; Diastolic BP: 81(63, 104)mmHg; BMI: 29(20, 47)kg/m2; WC: 102(77.5, 146.5)cm; LDL-C: 3(1, 6)mmol/l; TC: 4.9(3, 7.5)mmol/l). 84% were overweight or obese, 43% had type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes and 34% had the Metabolic Syndrome. The sub-sample of lorry drivers with objective postural data (n=87) accumulated 13hours/day and 8hours/day of sedentary behaviour on workdays and non-workdays (p<0.001), respectively. On average, drivers accrued 12min/day on workdays and 6min/day on non-workdays of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA).
Conclusion: Lorry drivers demonstrate a high-risk cardio-metabolic profile and are highly sedentary and physically inactive. Interventions to reduce sitting and increase MVPA during breaks and leisure-time to improve cardio-metabolic health are urgently needed. Educational programs to raise awareness about diet and exercise are recommended.
Funding
The authors would like to thank all the drivers who
participated in this study. The authors wish to acknowledge the efforts of all of
the managers that made the recruitment possible. This research was supported
by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Diet, Lifestyle & Physical
Activity Biomedical Research Unit based at University Hospitals of Leicester and
Loughborough University. The views expressed are those of the authors and not
necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
BMJ Open
Citation
VARELA-MATO, V. ... et al, 2017. Cross-sectional surveillance study to phenotype lorry drivers’ sedentary behaviours, physical activity and cardio-metabolic health. BMJ Open, 7:e013162. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013162.
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially,
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Acceptance date
2016-11-22
Publication date
2017
Notes
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the
Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which
permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially,
and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is
properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/