Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Excessive Daytime Sleep Among Mass Transit Bus Drivers in the South-East, Nigeria

Background: On April 25, 2008 the United Nations (UN) declared a decade (2011-2020) of Action on Road Safety’ in an effort to reduce the incidence of road traffic accidents (RTAs). RTA has been linked to Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) by several studies. Nigeria has been indicted as one of the most notorious countries for bad roads leading to RTAs. Bad road coupled with EDS is a bad omen for road users. Risk for EDS has been said to be increased by factors such as obesity. Obesity is measured by Body Mass Index (BMI). Although study exists in Nigeria that linked RTAs to EDS, none has linked EDS to specific factors such as BMI. The current study attempts to fill the gap and to create an empirical basis for targeted public health measures against EDS and RTAs. Aim: The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the Body Mass Index (BMI) and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) among Mass Transit Bus Drivers (MTBDs) in the South East, Nigeria. The study had one Null hypothesis (H0.) that there is no significant relationship between BMI and the risk of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS) among the Mass Transit Bus Drivers (MTBDs) in South-East, Nigeria. Method: A cross-sectional analytical study design was used. The target population was all the bus drivers employed by seven major registered mass transit companies in South-East, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to select participants for the study using arbitrary fixed inclusion criteria. The instrument, a questionnaire used for data collection, was explicitly designed for the study. The instrument was pre-tested at Ifesinachi Park, Nsukka, and validated by experts. A Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of 0.8 was obtained. Ethical approvals were obtained from the ethics and research committee of Ebonyi State University and the mass transit companies. Five research assistants were used to collect data. Data was collected from 401 MTBDs. Findings: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis. The findings among other things established a significant relationship between BMI and EDS (P<0.05). Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a positive significant relationship between BMI and EDS. Based on the findings, it was among other things recommended that nutrition education with proper Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) materials be provided for the MTBDs.