Mortality among members of a truck driver trade association.
Previous studies report that truck drivers are at increased risk for illness and on-the-job mortality. It is unknown whether owner-operator truck drivers face the same risks as employee drivers, yet few studies have targeted owner-operators as a study population. This study examined the overall and cause-specific mortality ratios for a cohort with owner-operator truck drivers constituting 69% of the study population. Of the 26 major disease classifications and 92 specific causes of death examined, only mortality due to transportation accidents was significantly elevated (standardized mortality ratio=1.52, 95% confidence interval=1.36-1.70). Leading causes of death were ischemic heart disease and lung cancer, although risk was below that of the general population. Transportation accidents pose a particular hazard for members of the trade association. The absence of excess disease mortality deserves careful interpretation, and may be due to both a strong healthy worker effect and a short monitoring period.
Birdsey
Jan
J
Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH 45226, USA. JBirdsey@cdc.gov
Alterman
Toni
T
Li
Jia
J
Petersen
Martin R
MR
Sestito
John
J
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000401:mortality*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology