Truck Drivers’ Cigarette Smoking and Preferred Smoking Cessation Methods

Abstract

Introduction: Some studies show that truck drivers use tobacco and other stimulants to stay awake as they drive. Despite their increased risks for many of tobacco-related health disparities, there is limited engagement of truck drivers in smoking cessation programs. The objective of this study was to describe smoking characteristics and identify their preferred smoking cessation methods among truck drivers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional mixed methods study. Participants were truck drivers recruited at trucking companies in Utah in 2019. Participants were either individually interviewed (n = 4), or filled out a survey (n = 33). We conducted qualitative data analysis of the interviews followed by descriptive statistics of smoking and cessation characteristics from the survey. Results: Reasons for smoking included, staying awake, stress reduction, or something to do while driving. Of the drivers surveyed, 68.8% were daily smokers while 97% had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their life time. The mean number of cigarettes per day (cpd) was 15.7, and 25 among those who had 10 or more cpd. Sixty-one percent had made at least a quit attempt. In addition to counseling or brief advice, 68% reported interest in using Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) either as gum or patch to help them quit. 21% reported interest in telephone text messaging to engage them in treatment. Conclusion: Cigarette smoking is a public health problem among truck drivers. Our findings suggest that truck drivers are interested in quitting smoking. Evidence based interventions tailored to this population are needed to help them quit and reduce their smoking-related morbidity.

Factors Associated with Colorectal Cancer Prevalence Among Long-Haul Truck Drivers in the United States

“…1,3 Older drivers have had prolonged exposure to risk factors such as a sedentary lifestyle and smoking and more time to develop colorectal polyps and cancer-causing mutations. 1,7,[12][13][14]17,18 Due to the increased exposure to CRC risk factors among truck drivers 12,15,24 amplified awareness and education about the importance of early-detection screening for CRC may aid in reducing CRC morbidity and mortality in this population.…”

“…7,[12][13][14] Obesity and tobacco use are twice as high among truckers as they are in the overall U.S. adult labor force, 15,16 and previous research has shown that truck drivers often smoke cigarettes to stay awake. 1,17,18 Truck drivers also often have few nutritious options available to them while commuting, 19 face challenges to eating healthily, 20 and have high rates of metabolic syndrome. 21,22 High-fat diets have been associated with poor health among truck drivers.…”

Risk Factors for Chronic Non-communicable Diseases of Long-Haul Truck Drivers: Integrative Review

“…The studies were conducted on five continents and in 10 countries, South Africa [25,32,35], Germany [22], Australia [26,36], Brazil [21], Canada [27,30], Spain [34], United States [14,15,17,19,23,24,28,29,31,33], Finland [20], Iran [16], and Sweden [18]. In 2018, eight articles were published [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]; followed by six publications in 2019 [22][23][24][25][26][27], two in 2020 [28,29], five in 2021 [30][31][32][33][34], and two publications in 2022 [35,36].…”

“…The 23 studies analyzed aimed to evaluate sleep [19][20][21], sleep and mental health [23,24,29], sleep and risk of cardiovascular disease [32], Diet [22], diet and physical activity [26], risk of cardiometabolic disease [17,18]. The prevalence of obesity and its association with systemic arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus [35], sexual health [14], and sexually transmitted infection (STI) [33], risk of musculoskeletal injury [15], fatigue and occupational safety [34], physical and mental health [25,36], smoking [28], symptoms of depression [26] and about the health of truck drivers in the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic [30].…”

“…The authors evaluated the health of 7,363 LHTDs --the samples ranged from 13 to 1,390 participants, with an average of 328 participants . Of these, the methodology used in 19 studies was described as quantitative observational [14,15,17,19,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][31][32][33][34][35][36], a qualitative study [18], a casecontrol study [16] and an intervention study in education [20] (Table 1). None used mixed or multiple methods.…”