Prevalence of Hypertension in Professional Drivers (from the RACER-ABPM Study)

Professional drivers are a group exposed to many cardiovascular risk factors. Nonsystematic working hours, stress, low physical activity, and unhealthy dietary habits are common among professional drivers. These translate into high risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of the current analysis was to establish the prevalence of arterial hypertension in a group of continuous professional drivers. The RACER (Risk of Adverse Cardiovascular Events among professional dRivers in Poland) study is a prospective study focused on assessing cardiovascular risk factors in professional drivers. Patients included in the study were screened for the classical and nonclassical cardiovascular risk factors and had an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) performed. Of the RACER study population, 144 drivers were included into the RACER-ABPM study. Of this group 135 (95.7%) were male at mean age of 50.2 ± 9.3 years, with mean body mass index of 32.3 ± 3.0 kg/m². In 21.3% of patients, family history of cardiovascular disease was noted, 28.1% were current smokers, and 2.9% had diabetes mellitus. Arterial hypertension was previously diagnosed in 39 patients (27.9%). In ABPM, the mean 24-hour blood pressure (BP) values were 130.3 ± 14.3 and 80.9 ± 9.9 for systolic and diastolic BP, respectively, and 46.1% of patients could be categorized as dippers. Based on the ABPM results, arterial hypertension was diagnosed in 104 of patients (73.8%). Patients with hypertension tend to be more often male and have a family history of cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, arterial hypertension is highly prevalent in professional drivers. Also abnormal day-to-night BP value patterns are often seen in this group.