Health problems and general anxiety among traffic police working in two major cities of Nepal

Abstract Objective Traffic police are at-risk of various health problems due to an exposure to air pollution and high traffic; and traffic roads in some Nepalese cities are very congested. There is very little information about health problems of Nepalese traffic police. Therefore, a cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire study among 252 traffic police was conducted to identify the common health problems and factors associated with different levels of general anxiety among traffic police working in two major cities of Nepal. Results Around 55% of traffic police had ear ringing problem, 57% had burning eyes, 64% had back pain, and 67% had breathing difficulties in the previous three months. Around 33% had moderate anxiety and 23% had persistent and severe anxiety. The multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that job dissatisfaction, ear ringing and eye irritation in the previous three months and having physical symptoms, namely eye irritation, ear ringing and back pain in last three months, were significantly associated with moderate anxiety. Further, age (25-30 years), gender (female), job dissatisfaction, and reporting ear ringing symptoms in the previous three months were significantly associated with severe anxiety.