Lifestyle of public transport bus drivers and fare collectors

Manoela Vieira Sousa,Morgana Lunardi,Cíntia de la Rocha Freitas,Silas Nery de Oliveira,Everton Schilling

doi:10.5020/18061230.2019.9733

Abstract

Objective: Analyze and compare the lifestyle of public transport drivers and fare collectors. Methods: Descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional study with 88 bus drivers and 75 fare collectors from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. To determine the domain scores (nutrition, physical activity, preventive behavior, social relationship and stress control), the Individual Lifestyle Profile questionnaire and anamnesis were applied. Data collection took place from September to October 2016. The maximum significance level assumed was 5% (p≤0.05). Chi-square test was used to assess the association between responses and job function, and T-test for independent samples was used to compare variables between groups. Results: There was a statistical difference (p>0.001) between bus drivers and fare collectors for age (40,36±8,55; 31,30 ± 8,68 years), time in function (11,47±8,53; 6,14±5,46 years) and time in the transport company (12,8±6,64; 6,35±5,56 years) and there was no association between the answers of the questions and the function performed (p>0.05). Considering the five domains, the workers showed negative behavior for nutrition (p=0.68) and physical activity (p=0.50), and regular behavior for preventive behavior (p=0.09), social relationships (p=0.45) and stress control (p=0.98), without significant differences between groups. Conclusion: Comparing bus drivers and fare collectors, it is noteworthy that there are differences in age, time in function and time in the company, but not in lifestyle and the public transport workers have a negative lifestyle profile in nutrition and physical activity.

Highlights

Lifestyle may be understood as a set of habits that reflect some behaviors, values and opportunities on people lives(1)
It is well known that lifestyle is linked to wellbeing, in which long hours at work, inadequate body posture, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, work shift and circadian cycle changes result in suppressed metabolic rate and overall decrease in metabolic expenditure, increased risk of obesity, hyperleptinemia, hyperlipidemia, hepatic steatosis, hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia(3)
There was a prevalence of men (88; 100%) among the bus drivers who participated in the study and their mean age was 40.36 (± 8.55) years

Summary

Introduction

Lifestyle may be understood as a set of habits that reflect some behaviors, values and opportunities on people lives(1). An adequate lifestyle includes healthy eating habits, regular physical activity, preventive health care and other issues that account for a longer life expectancy and healthy aging(2). It is well known that lifestyle is linked to wellbeing, in which long hours at work, inadequate body posture, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, work shift and circadian cycle changes result in suppressed metabolic rate and overall decrease in metabolic expenditure, increased risk of obesity, hyperleptinemia, hyperlipidemia, hepatic steatosis, hyperglycemia and hypoinsulinemia(3). The work environment must provide daily health practices to the workers to promote a better lifestyle, considering the amount of time they remain in it. Brazil’s Ministry of Health and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE) have shown a negative association between workers in general and lifestyle patterns. The prevalence of obesity increases 17% - 23% in men aged 55 - 64 years and 55.6% of men are overweight(4)

Methods

Results

Conclusion