Citation

Thiese MS, Hanowski RJ, Kales SN, Porter RJ, Moffitt G, Hu N, Hegmann KT. J. Occup. Environ. Med. 2017; 59(2): 205-211.

Affiliation

Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational & Environment Health, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (Drs Thiese, Hegmann); Center for Truck and Bus Safety, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia (Dr Hanowski); Department of Environmental Health, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, Occupational Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Dr Kales); Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (Dr Porter); Arkansas Occupational Health Clinic, Springdale, Arkansas (Dr Moffitt); and Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (Dr Hu).

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/JOM.0000000000000937

PMID

28079676

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to quantify the crash risk for truck drivers with multiple comorbid medical conditions, after adjusting for confounders.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort of 38,184 drivers evaluated concomitant medical conditions and subsequent crash data between January 1, 2005, and October 31, 2012. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated for any cause and preventable crashes of varying severity.

RESULTS: Drivers with three or more medical conditions had a significantly increased risk of preventable Department of Transportation (DOT) reportable crashes (HR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.65 to 3.88) and preventable crashes with injuries (HR = 2.23, 95% CI = 1.09 to 5.31) after adjustment for covariates. Similarly, adjusted HRs were 2.55 (95% CI = 1.37 to 4.73) for any cause DOT-reportable crashes and 3.21 (95% CI = 1.18 to 8.75) for any cause crashes with injuries.

CONCLUSIONS: Having three concomitant medical conditions may be a statistically significant risk factor for preventable and any cause DOT-reportable crashes and crashes with injuries.

Language: en