Rahmani Ramin, Aliabadi Mohsen, Golmohammadi Rostam, Babamiri Mohammad, Farhadian Maryam
Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Occupational Health & Safety Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Center of Excellence for Occupational Health, School of Public Health and Occupational Health & Safety Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Heliyon. 2022 Aug 18;8(8):e10329. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10329. eCollection 2022 Aug.
The city bus drivers have critical roles in public transport and are occupationally exposed to different environmental stressors. This study aimed to investigate body physiological responses of city bus drivers subjected to noise and vibration exposure while crossing city routes.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 103 city bus drivers working in the governmental transportation system in Hamadan city. The subjects' exposures to noise and body vibration were measured during driving activities. Their blood pressure (BP), as well as heart rate (HR), were measured before and after driving. Multivariate regressions (MLR) were employed to analyze the effect size of the stimulus on body physiological responses using SPSS 22.
Exposure levels to noise, whole-body vibration (WBV), and hand-arm vibration among drivers were 79.50 ± 3.51dB, 0.620 ± 0.159 m/s, and 0.438 ± 0.064 m/s, respectively which were lower than the exposure limits. Heart rate as main physiological response before and after driving were 74.22 ± 4.11 and 79.23 ± 8.59 bpm, respectively. The developed MLR models statistically showed that noise exposure could only affect the HR (β = 0.193 and p < 0.001); while WBV exposure affected both BP (β = 0.360 and p < 0.001) and HR (β = 0.367 and p = 0.020). The statistical analysis represented that exposure to noise and vibration in the presence of other possible covariates have significant effects on body physiological responses.
The study empirically confirmed the possibility of body physiological changes influenced by physical stimulus during real driving activities. It is highly recommended that occupational health surveillance should continuously be implemented to maintain and promote the safety and health of drivers throughout their careers.
城市公交车司机在公共交通中扮演着关键角色，并且在职业上会接触到不同的环境压力源。本研究旨在调查城市公交车司机在穿越城市路线时遭受噪音和振动暴露后的身体生理反应。
本横断面研究对在哈马丹市政府交通系统工作的103名城市公交车司机进行。在驾驶活动期间测量受试者的噪音和身体振动暴露情况。在驾驶前后测量他们的血压（BP）以及心率（HR）。使用SPSS 22通过多元回归（MLR）分析刺激对身体生理反应的效应大小。
司机的噪音暴露水平、全身振动（WBV）和手臂振动分别为79.50±3.51dB、0.620±0.159m/s和0.438±0.064m/s，均低于暴露限值。驾驶前后作为主要生理反应的心率分别为74.22±4.11和79.23±8.59次/分钟。所建立的MLR模型经统计学分析表明，噪音暴露仅会影响心率（β=0.193，p<0.001）；而WBV暴露会同时影响血压（β=0.360，p<0.001）和心率（β=0.367，p=0.020）。统计分析表明，在存在其他可能协变量的情况下，噪音和振动暴露对身体生理反应有显著影响。
该研究通过实证证实了在实际驾驶活动中身体生理变化受物理刺激影响的可能性。强烈建议持续开展职业健康监测，以在整个职业生涯中维护和促进司机的安全与健康。
