Screening for Common Occupational Health Diseases Among Long Distance Professional Drivers in Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Long term exposure to hazards at the work place is injurious to health and usually leads to diseased conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the occupational health problems associated with driving among the professional drivers in Sagamu, Ogun state, Nigeria. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study. Total sample of all the consenting professional drivers in the five interstate motor parks, including the cement factory [WAPCO] in the local government area, were recruited into the study. An interviewer administered structured questionnaire was administered by trained health workers and respondents were screen for common occupational health problems. RESULTS: A total of 400 professional drivers were interviewed, all [100%] of them were males with age range from 21 to 59 yrs and nearly half [42%] were non indigenes. Only half, 208 [52%] of them were married with majority, 232 [58.0%] working for about 12 hrs daily and 46% of them had been working for 5 yrs or more. Most, 382 [95.5%] had been educated on HIV/AIDS before and 313 [78.3%] of them had multiple sexual partners. Only 241 [60.3%] used condom at the last sexual act and 55 [13.5%] had ever been tested for HIV/AIDS. Common occupational health diseases were renal tubular acidosis (RTA) 52 [13%] in the last one year and most of them currently have myalgia 352 [88.0%], upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) 20 [5.0%], sexually transmitted diseases (STD) 15 [3.8%], short sightedness 41 [10.3%], and Hypertension 90 [22.5%]. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that common occupational diseases among long distance professional drivers in Western Nigeria were myalgia, upper respiratory tract infection, hypertension, short sightedness, sexually transmitted diseases, and RTA. Prevention and control of these common diseases among the drivers will lead to reduction of road traffic accidents in Western Nigeria and other low income countries.