COMMERCIAL DRIVERS

Background: Undiagnosed hypertension remains a major public health problem globally, particularly among occupational groups exposed to prolonged work stress, sedentary lifestyle, and poor access to routine healthcare. Transport and logistics
workers are especially vulnerable because of the nature of their work, yet many cases remain undetected until complications develop.
Objective: This study assessed the prevalence, distribution, and factors associatedwith undiagnosed hypertension among transport and logistics workers in Benin City, Edo State.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 315 transport and logistics workers selected using a multistage sampling technique. Oredo Local Government Area was selected at the first stage, while Central Motor Park was
selected at the second stage using cluster sampling. Data were collected using a semi- structured interviewer-administered questionnaire adapted from the WHO STEP wise approach. Blood pressure was measured using a standard mercury sphygmomanometer and stethoscope, while weight and height were measured using standard procedures. Respondents with systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg who had no previous diagnosis of hypertension
and were not on antihypertensive medication were classified as having undiagnosed hypertension. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 25. Descriptive statisticswere summarized using frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations. Chi-square test and binary logistic regression using the backward stepwise (conditional) method were used to determine factors associated with undiagnosed hypertension at p < 0.05. Results: The mean age of respondents was 50.53 ± 11.87 years. Slightly more than half (52.5%) had good knowledge of hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension was 47.8%, while the prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension was 24.0%. Nearly half of the respondents were prehypertensive, 26.7% had stage 1 hypertension, and
xv 18.3% had stage 2 hypertension. Undiagnosed hypertension was more common among respondents aged 31–40 years, those with primary education, motorcyclists and taxi drivers, those with shorter work experience, and respondents who worked
more than 10 hours daily. Smoking and physical inactivity were significantly associated with undiagnosed hypertension at bivariate level (p < 0.05). At multivariate level, primary education (AOR = 3.44; 95% CI: 1.16–10.21) and lack of regular
physical activity (AOR = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.12–4.64) remained significant predictors of undiagnosed hypertension. Conclusion: Undiagnosed hypertension is a significant health problem among transport and logistics workers in Benin City. The burden of hypertension was high, knowledge of hypertension was only moderate, and many respondents were exposed to important behavioural and occupational risk factors. Regular blood pressure screening, targeted health education, and workplace-based interventions are recommended to improve early detection and reduce the burden of hypertension and its complications among transport workers

Background of study: Musculoskeletal disorders can affect different parts of the body, upper and lower back, neck, shoulders and extremities. Driving involves routine muscular efforts, awkward sitting postures, long distance driving and exposure to whole body vibrations which are recognized as factors that can lead to musculoskeletal disorders.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders among intra campus commercial drivers in University of Benin
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 80 male intra campus commercial drivers. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was used to assess lifetime, 12 months and 7 days prevalence of low back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the obtain data. Chi square and spearman rho correlation test were used to assess the association and correlation between driving hours, age, BMI, driving duration with prevalence of low back pain, neck pain and shoulder with p value set at 0.05.
Results: The overall lifetime prevalence of low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain were 50%, 15% and 33.8%. BMI and driving hours were associated with lifetime prevalence of low back pain (p<0.05) while driving duration was associated with 12 month prevalence of neck pain (p=0.03). Driving hours was also associated with life time prevalence of shoulder pain (p=0.04)
Conclusion: The Intra-campus commercial drivers in University of Benin have high prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders with low back pain taking the highest percentage, but low prevalence of shoulder pain and lastly neck pain in this study. It was also established from the findings of this study that BMI, driving hours, duration of driving contributes to the risk of experiencing MSDs

Alcohol has been reported to be frequently used among commercial drivers
in western societies. The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of alcohol use among long
distance commercial drivers in Benin City. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out among commercial drivers
from randomly selected parks in major local government (Egor, Oredo and Ikpoba Okha) in
Benin City. Data was collected using a well-structured, questionnaire developed from
previous literatures review. The instruments consist of different parts, namely demographic;
prevalence of use of alcohol and reasons for alcohol use, analysis was mainly descriptive. Results: Majority (83.78%) used alcohol. Most of the reported alcohol used was spirit
(67.57%), beer (15.54%). Those (77.7%) with income rate less than N50,000 tends to
consume spirit while those (9.5%) with income rate of N100,000 and above tends to consume
more of beer. Less than half (42.6%) of the respondents reported to have injured as a result of
drinking. Conclusion: The findings of the study demonstrated that large population of drivers consume
alcohol prior to driving and this has negative impact on the safety and health status of the
drivers. It should be recommended that the sale of alcohol in the bus parks should be
prohibited and defaulters should be punished.