Aghdam Fatemeh Bakhtari, Sadeghi-Bazargani Homayoun, Shahsavarinia Kavous, Jafari Fatemeh, Jahangiry Leila, Gilani Neda
Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
Arch Public Health. 2021 Oct 22;79(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s13690-021-00702-4.
Determining people's healthy behaviors related to COVID-19 could be effective in providing preventive measures. The present study aims to investigate preventive behaviors associated with COVID-19 including wearing masks and keeping physical distance among the passengers on buses and public taxis measures to evaluate the ventilation systems in these vehicles.
This cross-sectional study was performed on 753 passengers on buses and taxis in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, from 15 February to 1 March 2021. Multistage sampling method was used to select the participants. Tabriz was socioeconomically divided into three areas, including high, moderate, and low socioeconomic status. Three researchers were observed passengers behaviors standing at the selected stations and assessed their behaviors according to study checklist.
In total, the data were gathered from 358 (47.5%) female and 395 (52.5%) male in public transport systems. The results of this study indicated that female passengers used masks significantly more than men (P < 0.001). About 40% of men and women did not keep a physical distance of at least one meter in the public transportation system. Failing to keep social distancing was mostly observed among people with low SES (N = 103, 54%) and those who were in city center (N = 88, 48.5%). According to the multivariate regression analysis, for not wearing mask: being male [OR 4.94; 95%CI (2.62-9.28)] and using bus [(OR 3.27, 95%CI (1.73,6.19)], and for not physical distancing: having age under 25 years [OR 2.58; 95%CI (1.53,4.36)] and low socioeconomic status (SES) [OR 5.19; 95%CI (3.25,8.30)], and for no ventilation: using bus [OR 1.57; 95%CI (1.05,2.34)] were significant predictors.
Our results suggest that gender, type of vehicle, age, and SES were significant predictors of non-adherence to COVID-19 preventive behaviors in public transport during the pandemic. Given that social distancing is less observed in the public transportation system in Tabriz, Iran, it is necessary for government to consider and monitor guidelines to protect the passengers from COVID-19 infections by providing measures to maintain physical distance in public transportation systems. It may be possible to force vehicle owners who do not comply with health protocols to keep some distance by imposing fines.
确定人们与新冠病毒相关的健康行为对于采取预防措施可能是有效的。本研究旨在调查与新冠病毒相关的预防行为，包括公交车和公共出租车乘客佩戴口罩及保持身体距离的情况，并评估这些车辆的通风系统。
本横断面研究于2021年2月15日至3月1日在伊朗西北部大不里士的公交车和出租车的753名乘客中进行。采用多阶段抽样方法选择参与者。大不里士在社会经济方面被分为三个区域，包括高、中、低社会经济地位区域。三名研究人员在选定的站点观察乘客行为，并根据研究清单评估他们的行为。
在公共交通系统中，总共收集了358名（47.5%）女性和395名（52.5%）男性的数据。本研究结果表明，女性乘客佩戴口罩的比例显著高于男性（P<0.001）。在公共交通系统中，约40%的男性和女性没有保持至少一米的身体距离。在社会经济地位低的人群（N = 103，54%）和市中心的人群（N = 88，48.5%）中，未保持社交距离的情况最为常见。根据多变量回归分析，对于不戴口罩：男性[比值比（OR）4.94；95%置信区间（CI）（2.62 - 9.28）]和乘坐公交车[（OR 3.27，95%CI（1.73，6.19）]；对于未保持身体距离：年龄在25岁以下[OR 2.58；95%CI（1.53，4.36）]和社会经济地位低（SES）[OR 5.19；95%CI（3.25，8.30）]；对于无通风：乘坐公交车[OR 1.57；95%CI（1.05，2.34）]是显著的预测因素。
我们的结果表明，在疫情期间，性别、车辆类型、年龄和社会经济地位是公共交通中不遵守新冠病毒预防行为的显著预测因素。鉴于伊朗大不里士的公共交通系统中社交距离遵守情况较差，政府有必要考虑并监督相关指南，通过在公共交通系统中提供保持身体距离的措施来保护乘客免受新冠病毒感染。对于不遵守健康协议的车辆所有者，可能可以通过罚款来强制其保持一定距离。
