Sneha Katuwal, Apsara Pandey* and Devaka Kumari Acharya

Department of Pediatric Nursing, Birgunj Nursing Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Parsa, Nepal

*Corresponding Author: Apsara Pandey, Department of Pediatric Nursing, Birgunj Nursing Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Parsa, Nepal.

Received: February 04, 2022; Published: May 12, 2022

Abstract

Introduction: Respiratory problems are major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Outdoor air pollution has become a major environmental risk to public health. Traffic police expose more to polluted air that increases the risk of respiratory problems and affect to their health.

Aim: This study aims to find out the awareness and practice regarding prevention of respiratory problems among traffic police in Kathmandu.

Methods: This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. Data were collected through structured self- administered questionnaire from 102 traffic police working in five traffic police stations of Kathmandu using the non-probability purposive sampling technique. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Chi-square and correlation were used to measure the association between level of awareness regarding prevention of respiratory problems and different variables.

Results: The study found that the mean age of the traffic police was 28.8 ± 5.29 years, 77.5% were police constable, and mean work experience was 6.28 ± 4.30 years with mean duty hours per day was 13.62 ± 2.40 hours. Only 65.3% and 39.6% had knowledge about bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis respectively as effects of outdoor air pollution on the respiratory system. Likewise, 85.3% had said implementation of strict traffic rules regarding reducing of air pollution for prevention of respiratory problems. Similarly, almost all (91.2%) of them had said anti-pollution face mask as most suitable for protecting from inhalation of polluted air. Similarly, 100.0% traffic police had used mask during duty hour whereas only 54.9% face masks the whole time during duty hours. Only 22.5% had implemented strict traffic laws to vehicles regarding air pollution, 10.8% had rotation of duty area to prevent respiratory problems due to air pollution and 9.8% had done routine health check-ups. More than half of the traffic police (51.0%) had an inadequate level of awareness and (56.7%) had an inadequate level of practice on the prevention of respiratory problems. There was a positive correlation between level of awareness and level of practice (r = 0.334, p = 0.001).

Conclusion and Recommendation: This study concluded that traffic police have inadequate awareness and practice regarding the prevention of respiratory problems. It is recommended to conduct regular health awareness programs and training regarding prevention of air pollution-related respiratory problems among traffic police by concerned authorities.

Keywords: Awareness; Practices; Respiratory Problems; Traffic Police

References

1. Forum of International Respiratory Societies. “The Global Impact of Respiratory Disease”. 2^nd ed, Sheffield, European Respiratory Society, (2017).
2. World Health Organization. “Ambient (Outdoor) air pollution”. World Health Organization, Geneva (2016).
3. The World Bank. “Managing Nepal’s Urban Transition”. The World Bank, News, 1 April, USA (2013).
4. World Health Organization. “Ambient and Household Air Pollution and Health”. World Health Organization, Geneva (2014).
5. Shakya K M., et al. “Respiratory effects of high levels of particulate exposure in a cohort of traffic police in Kathmandu, Nepal”. Journal of Occupation and Environmental Medicine6 (2016): 218-225.
6. Tamang RS. “Air pollution causing more deaths than road accidents”. My Republica, Wednesday, 12 July (2017).
7. Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. Kathmandu (2017).
8. World Health Organization. “7 million premature deaths annually linked to air pollution”. World Health Organization, News release, 25 March (2014).
9. Shrestha H S., et al. “A Cross-Sectional Study of Lung Functions in Traffic Police Personnel at Work in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal”. Annals of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine1 (2015): 42-48.
10. Sydbom A., et al. “Health effects of diesel exhaust emissions”. European Respiratory Journal4 (2001): 733-746.
11. Cochran W G. “Sampling techniques”. 2^nd, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., (1963).
12. Panta S and Neupane M. “Awareness and Practice Regarding Prevention of Occupational Hazards among Traffic Policemen in Kathmandu”. Journal of Chitwan Medical College 17 (2016): 39-45.
13. Karki K., et al. “Prevention of Respiratory Problems among traffic police: A cross sectional study in Kathmandu valley exploring knowledge and practice”. Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences AJMS 3 (2018): 142-146.
14. S Gupta., et al. “Respiratory effects of air pollutants among nonsmoking traffic policemen of Patiala, India”. Lung India4 (2011): 253-257.
15. R Sayyad., et al. “Evaluation of pulmonary function tests on non smoking traffic police men at Tirupati, AP, India”. International Journal of Physiotherapy and Research5 (2013): 279-282.
16. Aryal Ambika., et al. “Awareness and Practice Regarding Prevention of Respiratory Problems in Traffic Police, Kathmandu”. International Scholarly Research Notices 716257 (2017).
17. Rawat Vijay S. “A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Health Hazards Management Against Traffic Pollution Among Traffic Policemen Working at Udaipur District”. Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics4 (2019): 1138-1140.
18. Wannalai Sasiwimol., et al. “Assessment of Knowledge and Perception of Adverse Health Effects Associated with Self-Prevention from Air Pollution in Traffic Policemen in Bangkok, Thailand”. Journal of Health Research2 (2016).
19. Shashidhara GS. “Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Among Traffic Policemen to Protect Against Health Hazards in Bangalore City”. International Scholarly Research Notices, (2005).

Citation

Citation: Sneha Katuwal., et al. “Awareness and Practices of Traffic Police on Prevention of Respiratory Problems in Kathmandu”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 6.6 (2022): 168-176.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Apsara Pandey., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.