Perceived stress by mototaxi drivers and its relationship with sociodemographic and occupational characteristics

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association of sociodemographic and occupational characteristics with a high level of perceived stress in motorcycle taxi drivers.

METHOD

Cross-sectional study carried out with motorcycle taxi drivers who answered instruments on sociodemographic and occupational variables - Perceived Stress Scale, Job Content Questionnaire and Effort-Reward Imbalance. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-square test and Poisson regression with robust variance were used. Statistical significance was 5%.

RESULTS

Of the 800 motorcycle taxi drivers, 46.8% had a high level of perceived stress. In the multivariate analysis, a high level of stress was associated with low control over work (PR=7.76; 95%CI=5.19-11.61), low social support at work (PR=3.87; 95%CI =2.95 5.08), working hours longer than eight hours a day (RP=1.47; 95%CI=1.21-1.78) and monthly income less than or equal to two minimum wages (PR=1.34;95%CI=1.13-2.58).

CONCLUSION

Long working hours, occupational stressors and low income were associated with a high level of perceived stress. Public policies and interventions to minimize occupational stressors are essential.

Relationship between the use and types of helmets with facial injuries - a prospective study

INTRODUCTION

many studies have demonstrated the benefits of helmet to prevent and reduce severity of injuries in motorcyclists.

OBJECTIVE

the aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible relationship between the use of different types of helmets and the occurrence of facial injuries among victims of motorcycle accidents, seen at Hospital da Restauração, Recife/PE, Brazil.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

demographic and trauma data were collected from hospitalized motorcycle accident victims with facial injuries from December 2020 to July 2021. Pearsons chi-square test was used to assess association between two categorical variables using a margin of error of 5%.

RESULTS

among the participants, the average age was 33.46 years. The age group between 18 and 29 years was the most prevalent. Most participants were male. 60.0% of motorcyclists used helmets at the time of the accident and of this percentage 37.6% used fixed full-face helmet, 16.5% open-face helmet and the other 5.9% articulated full-face helmet. 62.7% of participants had facial fractures. Among the fractures, those of the zygomatic-orbital complex were the most common fracture and were significantly associated with the use of helmets, especially with open-face helmet.

CONCLUSIONS

the use of helmets was associated with a lower number of facial fractures among patients who were victims of motorcycle accidents. Fracture of the zygomatic-orbital complex was related to the absence of a helmet at the time of the accident, as well as the use of open-face helmets.