title: Whole Body Vibration Exposures and Health Status among Professional Truck Drivers: A Cross-sectional Analysis.
abstract: Many professional truck drivers suffer from low back pain (LBP) which is thought to be associated with exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV). The objectives of this study were to: (i) characterize general health, regional body pain and WBV exposures, (ii) evaluate the associations between different WBV parameters and health outcomes, and (iii) determine whether there were factors which affect a truck driver's WBV exposures. This study analyzed WBV exposures from 96 long-haul truck drivers over their regular work shift (6-15h) per International Standards Organization (ISO) 2631-1 and 2631-5 WBV standards. This study also evaluated regional body pain (10-point scale), low back disability (the Oswestry Disability Index), and physical and mental health (the Short Form 12-item Health Survey). The results demonstrated that the daily vector sum WBV exposures [A(8), VDV(8) and Sed(8)] were above action limits while the predominant z-axis exposures were below action limits. Among all the musculoskeletal outcomes, LBP was the most prevalent (72.5%) with average LBP score of 2.9 (SD: 2.0). The SF-12 health scores demonstrated that truck drivers in general had lower physical health status than the general US population (P's < 0.04) and that physical health status decreased as WBV exposures increased (P = 0.03). In addition, the correlations between the WBV measures and health outcomes indicated that A(8) exposure measures had a stronger link to musculoskeletal (LBP) and other health outcomes than the VDV(8) and Sed(8) measures. Finally, seat manufacturer and seat age were two factors which had a strong influence on WBV exposures.
authors.affiliation: 1.Environmental and Occupational Health Program, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA; jay.kim@oregonstate.edu.
authors.forename: Jeong Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: 2.Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zigman
authors.affiliation: 2.Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;
authors.forename: Lovenoor S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Aulck
authors.affiliation: 2.Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ibbotson
authors.affiliation: 3.Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jack T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Dennerlein
authors.affiliation: 2.Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004867:Equipment Design; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D014732:Vibration / Q000009:adverse effects*
keywords: Oswestry disability index; SF-12 health survey; human vibration; low back pain; work-related musculoskeletal disorders