Prevalence, awareness, and determinants of type 2 diabetes mellitus among commercial taxi drivers in buffalo city metropolitan municipality South Africa

Abstract

Undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus constitutes a significant threat to the health of commercial taxi drivers, safety of the passengers and other road users. This study determines the prevalence of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes mellitus among commercial taxi drivers in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM), Eastern Cape and examines the factors associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus.A cross-sectional survey of 403 commercial taxi drivers was undertaken using the World Health Organization (WHO) STEPwise approach. Anthropometric, blood pressure, and blood glucose measurements followed standard procedure. Diabetes status was determined using the fasting blood glucose (FBG) test. Diabetes was defined as a FBG ≥7.0mmol/L or self-reported history of diabetes or current diabetes medication use (treatment), while pre-diabetes was defined as a FBG of 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L. Awareness of diabetes was defined as a self-reported history of diabetes.The mean age of the study participants was 43.3 ± 12.5years. Prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes were 17% (95% CI: 13.4–20.6) and 16% (95% CI: 12.4–19.6), respectively. Of those who had diabetes (n = 63), the majority were aware of their diabetes status (n = 43) and were on treatment (n = 30). In the unadjusted logistic regression, age, ever married, hypertension, obesity, and driving for more than 5 years were independently associated with diabetes. However, only age >35 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]= 3.65, CI: 1.17–11.32), ever married (AOR= 3.26, CI: 1.52–6.99) and hypertension (AOR= 3.23, CI: 1.56–6.69) were associated with diabetes in the adjusted logistic regression model.The prevalence of diabetes among commercial taxi drivers in this study is high, almost twice the national prevalence of diabetes in South Africa. Periodic health screening among this sub-population group is important to bridge the gap of undiagnosed diabetes in South Africa.

Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components among Taxi Drivers in the City of Tshwane, South Africa

“…With an average age of 42 years old, over half of the taxi drivers in this study had more than 10 years of experience working in the taxi industry. Older drivers and long working experience are common in the taxi industry [12,48] and this could be because taxi driving is an organized industry where drivers work as employees in South Africa. However, few taxi drivers reported inadequate sleep of less than four hours at most per day.…”

“…The nature of their occupation exposes them to long hours of work, which deprives them of enough sleep required for optimum health [8,9], and these working conditions promote exhaustion, which is associated to sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy eating [9]. The stressfulness of the occupation of commercial drivers, in addition to other factors, such as limited time to access health services during the day, put their health at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome (MetS) [6,[10][11][12][13][14]. MetS is on the rise in developing countries, affecting African countries as well, and, in particular, South Africa [15][16][17].…”

Level of Knowledge and Awareness of Diabetic Emergencies Among Turkish Bus Drivers: Example of the Mediterranean Region

“…The threats posed by DM increase by the presence of passengers with insulintreated DM who are at risk of developing hypoglycemic attacks. Informed drivers are needed to avoid immediate health risks of low blood pressure during the journey and reduce the risks of DM complications later to ensure metabolic control [22,25]. In this study, there was a statistically significant difference between the drivers' average scores for the level of knowledge and awareness regarding diabetic emergencies and their age, education status, work experience, the presence of chronic disease, the presence of diabetic family members, the presence of a first aid certificate, DM-related training, the place of receiving this training variables.…”

Obesity as a Risk Factor for Hypertension and Diabetes among Truck Drivers in a Logistics Company, South Africa

“…In this wise, studies from several countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Mexico have confirmed that obesity is high and associated with HBP, demographic, behavioural, and occupational factors [8,37,38]. However, in South Africa, data is scarce among commercial drivers, including truckers, which focuses on their healthcare and health status [2,36], HIV and sexually transmitted diseases [39][40][41][42], with minimal research on hypertension and T2D, and associated factors [43,44]. It is worth noting that noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), inclusive of cardiovascular diseases, are prevalent [29,45] and/or co-exist with communicable (e.g., HIV) diseases among different populations in South Africa [17,46,47].…”