[Accidents, illness and injuries involved in road haulage : consequences for medical care and prevention]

Postural sway, working years and BMI in healthy truck drivers: an observational study

OBJECTIVES

The following study analyses the influence of risk factors among the occupational group of truck drivers on postural control and body mass index (BMI).

DESIGN

Observational study.

SETTING

One motorway station close to several highways in Germany.

PARTICIPANTS

180 truck drivers (177 male/3 female), aged 21-65 years old, took part in this study.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Postural control was examined using a pressure plate. In order to examine the influence of body weight (BMI) and working years on postural control, subjects were divided into samples of five and three groups, respectively. Furthermore, it was evaluated whether the subjects suffered from back pain. For data analysis, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used as the data were not normally distributed. Once the p value of the Kruskal-Wallis test was p≤0.05, the Conover-Iman comparison and afterwards the Bonferroni-Holm correction were used. The significance level was set at α ≤0.05.

RESULTS

Regarding the number of working years, a significant increase of frontal (p≤0.04) and sagittal (p≤0.001) sway were observed. The correlation of the five BMI groups with the number of working years demonstrates that an increase of the working years leads to an increase of BMI (p≤0.03). Furthermore, the majority of truck drivers participating in this study suffered from back pain (61.7%).

CONCLUSIONS

BMI and musculoskeletal impairment are indicators of health risk factors. In this study, it is shown that an increasing number of working years and an increasing BMI lead to a decrease in frontal and sagittal postural sway. In addition, the number of working years correlates with body weight and back pain.

Road Traffic Related Injury Severity in Truck Drivers: A Prospective Medical and Technical Analysis of 582 Truck Crashes

BACKGROUND

While cyclists and pedestrians are known to be at significant risk for severe injuries when exposed to road traffic accidents (RTA) involving trucks, little is known about RTA injury risk for truck drivers.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to analyze the injury severity in truck drivers following RTAs.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Our local accident research unit prospectively documented 43000 RTAs involving 582 trucks between 2000 and 2011. Injury severity, including the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) and the maximum abbreviated injury scale (MAIS) were analyzed. Technical parameters (e.g. delta-v, direction of impact), the location of accident, and its dependency on the road type were also taken into consideration.

RESULTS

Thirteen percent (77/582) of truck drivers were injured. Extremities were found to be at highest risk of injury with the lower extremities (36x) being injured most severely (10x: AIS 2 and 3). Death occurred only after collisions with other trucks, and severity of injuries increased with an increased speed limit. The maximum abbreviated injury scale was higher in the crash opponents (56x MAIS ≥ 3) compared to the truck drivers (8x MAIS ≥ 3). Overall, 82% of the crash opponents were injured.

CONCLUSIONS

The safety of truck drivers is assured by their vehicles, the consequence being that the risk of becoming injured is likely to be low. However, the legs especially are at high risk for severe injuries during RTAs. This probability increases in the instance of a collision with another truck. Nevertheless, in RTAs involving trucks and regular passenger vehicles, the other party is in higher risk of injury.