# Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components among Taxi Drivers in the City of Tshwane, South Africa
## 3 Results
### Characteristics of Taxi Drivers  
The selected sociodemographic, occupational information, lifestyle factors, and components of MetS of taxi drivers are presented in Table 1. Seventy-five percent of taxi drivers in this study were aged less than 50 years and 25% were 50 years and above. Fifty-two percent had been in the taxi industry for 10 years and above while 48% for less than 10 years. Few taxi drivers (n = 45, (12%)) reported to sleep less than 5 h/day on most days. Almost all of the taxi drivers were family providers (83%) in their families and 79% had obtained high school education (79%). Over half of the taxi drivers had been married (52%) and 40% were single. Lifestyle factors observed in the study were alcohol users (59%), smoking (30%), physical inactivity (71%), as well as the tendency of eating pap (i.e., a maize staple food) mostly during lunch (84%), not eating at least one piece of fruit per day (29%), and not eating at least one vegetable per day (29%). One third of taxi drivers (32%) have never been screened for hypertension, and over half of them (57%) have never been screened for diabetes. Individual metabolic components in this study were obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. The study showed that 70% of taxi drivers were overweight/obese, 36% had hypertension, and 46% had diabetes. Some taxi drivers reported to have a family history of hypertension (30%) and diabetes (24%) (Table 1).  
Figure 3: Prevalence of MetS according to duration in the taxi industry (\(p\) = 0.003).  
Figure 2: Prevalence of MetS according to age groups (\(p\) = 0.039).  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Variables** & **Category** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**No. of**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Percentage (\%)**} \\  & & **Participants (n)** & **Percentage (\%)** \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Age (years)} & \(<\)50 & 271 & 75 \\  & \(\geq\)50 & 91 & 25 \\ \hline Duration in taxi industry & \(<\)10 & 174 & 48 \\ (years) & \(\geq\)10 & 188 & 52 \\ \hline Sleeping hours at most/day & \(<\)5 & 45 & 12 \\  & \(\geq\)5 & 317 & 88 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Family provider} & Yes & 300 & 83 \\  & No & 62 & 17 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Marital status} & Single & 144 & 40 \\  & Cohabiting & 30 & 8 \\  & Ever married & 188 & 52 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Education} & Post high school & 38 & 11 \\  & High school & 287 & 79 \\  & No formal schooling & 6 & 2 \\  & Primary school & 31 & 9 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Alcohol use} & Yes & 212 & 59 \\  & No & 150 & 41 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Smoking} & Yes & 110 & 30 \\  & No & 252 & 70 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{At least one fruit a day} & Yes & 257 & 71 \\  & No & 105 & 29 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{At least one vegetable a day} & Yes & 257 & 71 \\  & No & 105 & 29 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Exercise regularly} & Yes & 105 & 29 \\  & No & 257 & 71 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Common food during lunch} & Pap & 305 & 84 \\  & Bread, rice, others & 57 & 16 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{BMI (kg/m\({}^{2}\))} & Normal & 104 & 29 \\  & Obese & 129 & 36 \\  & Overweight & 121 & 34 \\  & Underweight & 8 & 2 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Previous hypertension screen} & Yes & 247 & 68 \\  & No & 115 & 32 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Previous diabetes testing} & Yes & 157 & 43 \\  & No & 205 & 57 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Diabetes} & Yes & 167 & 46 \\  & No & 195 & 54 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Hypertension} & Yes & 231 & 36 \\  & No & 131 & 64 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{SBP (mmHg)} & Normal & 247 & 68 \\  & Abnormal & 115 & 32 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{DBP (mmHg)} & Normal & 229 & 63 \\  & Abnormal & 133 & 37 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Family history of hypertension} & Yes & 110 & 30 \\  & No & 252 & 70 \\ \hline \multirow{2}{*}{Family history of diabetes} & Yes & 88 & 24 \\  & No & 274 & 76 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \(\mathbb{SBP}\) stands for systolic blood pressure, DBP stands for diastolic blood pressure, BMI stands for body mass index.  
\end{table}
Table 1: Characteristics of taxi drivers.