Authors
1
Student research committee, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, IR.Iran
2
Pediatric Neurorehabilitation Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, IR.Iran
3
Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, IR.Iran
4
Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, IR.Iran
5
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, IR.Iran
6
Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, IR.Iran
7
Department of Public Management, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR.Iran
8
Iranian research center on aging, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, IR.Iran
Abstract
Background: Occupational stress is the leading cause of many disorders in employees. Drivers are a
high-risk group for work-related stress. The purpose of this study was to determine the
association between cardiovascular risk factors and occupational stress among locomotive
operators.
Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 350 locomotive operators. The Osipow questionnaire
was used to measure stress. After 10 hours of fasting, systolic and diastolic blood pressures
were recorded. Intravenous blood samples were also taken. Two groups of job stress were
included as “trivial and trivial-to-average stress” and “average-to-acute and acute stress”. The
Mann–Whitney U test was utilized to compare the risk factors of cardiovascular disease
between the 2 groups. The association between education level and job experience was assessed
using the χ2 test.
Results: Of the 350 participants, 250 (71.43%) individuals reported average-to-acute stress, 30 (8.57%)
reported acute stress, and 70 (20%) reported average stress. There was a significant relationship
between education level and job experience (P=0.000). There were no significant differences
between the 2 groups in the smoking rate (P=0.92), triglyceride level (P=0.55), and diastolic
blood pressure (P=0.21), while the trivial and trivial-to-average stress group had significantly
higher blood glucose levels (P=0.024) and systolic blood pressures (P=0.000) than the other
group. Finally, the blood cholesterol level in the average-to-acute and acute stress group was
significantly higher than that of the other group (P=0.000).
Conclusions: High rates of occupational stress were reported in the studied locomotive operators.
Stress may have effects on blood glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels in this job group
Keywords
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