[Depression in truck driver: prevalence and related factors]

ABSTRACT

Depression is the most prevalent psychiatry disorder. It consist of 35-40% of all psychiatry disorders that lead to medical intervention. Driving is a dangerous job and drivers are strongly susceptible to physical and mental disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression and to investigate factors related to depression in truck drivers. Using a descriptive cross-sectional study in Yazd province goods terminal, 222 truck drivers were evaluated by a questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were determined using the Beck Depression Inventory. Data was analyzed by the statistical package for the social sciences. The mean +/- SD of depression score was 18 +/- 11 and major depression prevalence came to 15.5%. In this study we couldn't find any statistical significant correlation between the depression score and variables such as age, benefitting from a co-driver, accident in last year, specific disease, use of specific drug, type of truck ownership, marital status, educational status, duration of driving, number of children and number of cigarettes smoked in 24 hours. But the correlation between the depression score and number of home returning days was statistically nearly significant [r=0.108, p=0.06] and showed a reverse statistical significance related to the number of sleeping hours in 24 hours [r=-0.183, p=0.005]. Also in this study there was a significant association between depression score and dwelling city and capacity of loading truck [p=0.02]. Prevalence of major depression in drivers is higher than total population. Since depression leads to disturbance in concentration and alters the nature of a person's behavior, so there must be planning for health promotion in drivers to reduce accidents