Work and Chronic Disease: Comparison of Cardiometabolic Risk Markers Between Truck Drivers and the General US Population.

OBJECTIVE: US long-haul truck drivers experience a wide array of excess cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risks unique to their occupation. How these risks translate to, and potentially induce, elevations in the clinical CMD risk profile of this population is unknown.

METHODS: A non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design was employed to collect anthropometric and biometric data from 115 long-haul truckers to generate for the first time a comprehensive CMD risk marker profile, which was then compared with the general US population. The relationships between CMD risk markers and CMD outcomes were examined for both populations.

RESULTS: The long-haul trucker sample presented elevated CMD risk markers, generally scoring significantly worse than the general population. Associations between CMD risk markers and disease states varied between both populations.

CONCLUSIONS: US long-haul truck drivers' distinctive CMD risk profile indicates occupationally-linked CMD pathogenesis.