Cancer incidence among Danish seafarers: a population based cohort study.
(33/128)
AIMS: Seafarers aboard oil and chemical tankers may be exposed to many chemicals, including substances like benzene that are known to be carcinogenic. Other seafarers are exposed to engine exhaust, different oil products, and chemicals used aboard and some years ago asbestos was also used extensively in ships. The aim of this study was to study cancer morbidity among Danish seafarers in relation to type of ship and job title. METHODS: A cohort of all Danish seafarers during 1986-1999 (33,340 men; 11,291 women) registered by the Danish Maritime Authority with an employment history was linked with the nationwide Danish Cancer Registry and followed up for cancer until the end of 2002. The number of person years at risk was 517,518. Standardised incidence ratios (SIR) were estimated by use of the corresponding national rates. RESULTS: The SIR of all cancers combined was higher than expected: 1.26 (95% CI 1.19 to 1.32) for men and 1.07 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.20) for women. This was mainly due to an excess of cancer of the larynx, lung, tongue, mouth, pharynx, oesophagus, pancreas, kidney, urinary bladder, colon, and bone as well as skin melanomas among men (the three latter borderline significantly increased), and an excess of cancer of the lung, rectum, and cervix uteri among women. The differences in risk pattern for lung cancer between the different job categories among men ranged in terms of SIR from 1.2 (95% CI 0.9 to 1.7) (engine officers) to 2.3 (1.6 to 3.3) (engine room crew), and 4.1 (2.1 to 7.4) among maintenance crew. Non-officers had a 1.5 times higher lung cancer risk than officers. No increased occurrence of all lymphatic and haematopoietic malignancies combined was found for employees on tankers, but the number of cases was limited to a total of 7. CONCLUSIONS: Danish seafarers, especially men, face an increased overall cancer risk, in particular a risk for lung cancer and other tobacco associated cancers. (+info)
A higher risk of congenital anomalies in the offspring of personnel who served aboard a Norwegian missile torpedo boat.
(34/128)
BACKGROUND: In the 1990s, congenital anomalies were reported among children whose fathers had served aboard a Norwegian missile torpedo boat (MTB). The Royal Norwegian Navy asked the University of Bergen to look into this problem as one part of a general health and work environment surveillance. AIMS: To estimate any increased risk of having children with congenital anomalies and having stillborn children among the offspring of workers that had served aboard the MTB and to investigate possible differences in exposure and other risk factors between these groups. METHODS: Data from a cross-sectional study among all current employees of the Norwegian Navy (n = 2265, response rate 58%) were analysed. RESULTS: The prevalence ratio of having a child with congenital malformations associated with working on the ship was 4.0 (95% CI 1.9 to 8.6). The prevalence ratio of having a child who was stillborn or died within one week was 4.1 (95% CI 1.7 to 9.9). CONCLUSION: Service aboard the MTB was associated with an increased risk of having children with congenital birth defects and having children that were stillborn. The causes of these findings are unknown. (+info)
Epidemiology of injuries and illnesses in America's Cup yacht racing.
(35/128)
OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence and severity of injuries and illnesses incurred by a professional America's Cup yacht racing crew during the preparation for and participation in the challenge for the 2003 America's Cup. METHODS: A prospective study design was used over 74 weeks of sailing and training. All injuries and illnesses sustained by the 35 professional male crew members requiring medical treatment were recorded, including the diagnosis, nature, location, and mechanism of injury. The volume of sailing and training were recorded, and the severity of incidents were determined by the number of days absent from both sailing and training. RESULTS: In total, 220 injuries and 119 illnesses were recorded, with an overall incidence of 8.8 incidents/1000 sailing and training hours (injuries, 5.7; illnesses, 3.1). The upper limb was the most commonly injured body segment (40%), followed by the spine and neck (30%). The most common injuries were joint/ligament sprains (27%) and tendinopathies (20%). The incidence of injury was significantly higher in training (8.6) than sailing (2.2). The most common activity or mechanism of injury was non-specific overuse (24%), followed by impact with boat hardware (15%) and weight training (13%). "Grinders" had the highest overall injury incidence (7.7), and "bowmen" had the highest incidence of sailing injuries (3.2). Most of the illnesses were upper respiratory tract infections (40%). CONCLUSIONS: The data from this study suggest that America's Cup crew members are at a similar risk of injury to athletes in other non-collision team sports. Prudent allocation of preventive and therapeutic resources, such as comprehensive health and medical care, well designed conditioning and nutritional programmes, and appropriate management of recovery should be adopted by America's Cup teams in order to reduce the risk of injury and illness. (+info)
Nationwide survey of occupational health activities in small-scale enterprises in Japan.
(36/128)
OBJECTIVES: In order to clarify the real condition of occupational health (OH) activities in small-scale enterprises (SSEs) at the nationwide level, we conducted a questionnaire study sent to SSEs. We selected SSEs according to their employee numbers published in the in "Census of Workplaces in 1999". SUBJECTS AND METHODS: About 2000 establishments were selected from the list in the "Census" describing the names and addresses of enterprises with 5 or more employees. The questionnaire included type of business, number of employees, independence, OH competent person, conduction of health examination, potential hazardous works and countermeasures (chemicals handling, computer work, etc), committee or other types of organizations for OH, and others. RESULTS: Two hundred eleven establishments with 1-4 employees, 779 establishments with 5-9 employees, 681 establishments with 10-49 employees, 300 establishments with 50-99 employees, and 57 establishments with more than 100 employees, a total of 2,029 establishments responded to the questionnaire. The types of businesses (the number of establishments) were construction (216 establishments), manufacturing (604), transportation and communication (216), wholesale and restaurants (390) and services (602). The rate of independent enterprises was 54.1% and branches 45.9%. Indicators of OH activities including selection of OH competent person, enforcement of OH guideline for computer work, OH education about the occupational health risks, enforcement of special health examinations and general health examinations in SSEs with 1-4 and 5-9 employees were worse than SSEs with 10 or more employees. CONCLUSIONS: The differences of OH activities by scale of number of employees were clarified at a nationwide level. However, OH activities in SSEs with 1-4 employees were not clarified sufficiently. Various policies and methods should be established and implemented to improve the low level of OH activities in SSEs. (+info)
The tendency of diseases among seamen during the last fifteen years in Japan.
(37/128)
Compared to workers on land, seamen working on the ocean are given only limited disease treatment. The aim of this paper is to clarify the actual condition of diseases among such seamen in an effort to improve measures that promote their health. We analyzed 51,641 cases of diseases that were reported to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport from 1986 to 2000. The most prevalent diseases included disorders of the digestive system, followed by those of the musculoskeletal and the circulatory systems. The proportions of the three disease types were shown to vary by the type of work, ship, and occupation. One of the reasons for the variation in incidence between type of work and ship might result from differences in the voyage period in the given year. In explaining the varied incidences between occupations we hypothesize that differences in work systems and contents may be important variables to consider. It will be necessary to clarify the lifestyle and living environment of seamen to suggest appropriate measures for combating diseases prevalent in this population. (+info)
Working conditions in international seafaring.
(38/128)
BACKGROUND: Seafaring is a global profession and seafarers have their second home on board and live there for several months at a time. AIM: To assess self-rated health status and the main characteristics of seafarers' working conditions. METHODS: Questionnaire study concerning the most recent tour of duty. RESULTS: A total of 6,461 seafarers in 11 countries responded. In general, the seafarers' self-rated health was good, but it declined significantly with age. Seafarers from South-East Asian countries spent longer time periods at sea, and had lower numbers of officers and older seafarers than found among seafarers from western countries. Most seafarers worked every day of the week, and on average for 67-70 h a week during periods of 2.5-8.5 months at sea. CONCLUSIONS: Seafarers' self-rated health was generally good but varied significantly by country. Working conditions also differed by country but did not reflect working conditions in general. Further studies are necessary to describe more closely the influence of work schedules on the health and social life of seafarers. (+info)
Arsine toxicity aboard the Asiafreighter.
(39/128)
Eight sailors on board the Asiafreighter were exposed to arsine that had escaped from a cylinder in the cargo hold. Four suffered severe toxicity and within a few hours had developed fever, weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and haemoglobinuria. These patients had pronounced intravascular haemolysis, which in one patient was complete. This patient was also stuporose and anoxic, a condition attributed to failure of oxygen transport and sludging of red cell debris in the cerebral and pulmonary circulations, but he regained a normal level of consciousness after exchange transfusion. Evidence of marrow depression was present: the reticulocyte response to the haemolysis was poor and there was a thrombocytopenia. All four patients developed renal failure, one being totally anuric for five weeks. Two patients developed peripheral neuropathy, and one was still severely disabled six months after the incident. The other four patients had a similar, though less severe, illness. (+info)
Association between environment and psycho-emotional stress experienced at sea by Lithuanian and Latvian seamen.
(40/128)
This is the first scientific research in Lithuania and Latvia that involves a national cross-sectional study of the seamen of two different countries--Lithuania and Latvia--including the evaluation and comparison of seamen's working environment, lifestyle, health, the prevalence of health-damaging risk factors, as well as the causative relationships between the objective and subjective health evaluation and psycho-emotional stress experienced at sea. The aim of the study was to investigate the frequency and predictors of the psycho-emotional stress experienced at sea by Lithuanian and Latvian seamen. Beside the common statistical methods, the logistic stepwise regression analysis was used in order to find the risk factors of the self-rated stress and to correct the risk estimates for the confounding variables. Seamen of both countries indicated that they experienced psycho-emotional stress after, on the average, 2.7-2.8 months from the beginning of the voyage. More than one-half (57.5%) of Latvian seamen stated that they had experienced psycho-emotional stress, whereas the respective percentage of Lithuanian seamen was smaller (46.1%). The obtained findings showed that, having evaluated the influence of all the analyzed factors (industry-specific, health and lifestyle, medical and demographic), there was no significant difference between the seamen of the two countries concerning the experience of psycho-emotional stress on the ship. The following main prognostic factors related to the occurrence of psycho-emotional stress on the ship were determined: higher or specialized secondary education level (p<0.001), age of 35-44 or 45-54 years (p<0.01), 9-10 or 11-12 hours of work per day when being exposed to detrimental factors (p<0.01), the evaluation of one's health status as "average" (p<0.05), and evaluation of one's physical capacity as "quite good" or "average" (p<0.01). The occurrence of psycho-emotional stress was mostly influenced by work in the environment requiring increased visual strain (p<0.001) and vibration (p<0.05). We found that the following factors were associated with the occurrence of psycho-emotional stress on the ship: depression that occurred more frequently at sea than on shore (p<0.001), disturbed working and resting regimen due to time zone changes (p<0.001), and disturbed regular sexual life (p<0.001). Many of the unique aspects of seafaring are unchangeable. However, it possible to modify, supplement, or develop new strategies to reduce the impact these factors have on the health of individual seafarers. (+info)