Longitudinal evaluation of the quality of life of smoking motorcycle taxi drivers

Abstract

Background: The quality of life (QoL) of traffic and transit workers has been a focus of much attention; motorcyclists are the workers most susceptible to accidents and exposure to pollutants. These factors added to smoking might result in respiratory disorders and influence the workers’ QoL. Objective: To analyze the QoL of smoking or not motorcycle taxi drivers. Method: Longitudinal and epidemiological study with quantitative approach conducted with 95 motorcycle taxi drivers from Jatai, southeastern Goias, Brazil, in two stages in 2014 and 2015. We administered a questionnaire to collect sociodemographic and occupational data and self-perceived state of health, and WHOQOL-BREF. Statistical analysis was performed with software Statistical Package for Social Sciences ® and STATA ® ; the significance level was set to p<0.05. Results: Most participants were male (98.9%), nonsmokers (89.5%), had already suffered work accidents (67.4%); their average age was 39.1 years old, and 48.5% described their state of health as good. The score on the physical health domain of QoL decreased (from 86.07 to 74.28; p=0.091) and the one on the environment domain increased (from 58.43 to 64.06; p=0.285) among smokers. Also among nonsmokers the score on domain physical health decreased (from 79.87 to 76.38; p=0.014) and the one on domain environment increased (from 58.27 to 67.32; p<0.001). We found association of age and smoking with QoL domain physical health (p=0.014; 0.027). Conclusion: Motorcycle taxi drivers are exposed to several factors which might influence their living and working conditions. New public health policies targeting this population of workers are needed.