International Maritime Health最新文献

Background: Workers at sea including commercial seafarers and those working in offshore establishments have increased risk for occupational disease and injury. Due to limited medical resources in vessels and platforms, and the remote nature of the work, repatriation to a shore-based facility may be required for treatment. The objective of this review was to summarize the literature on medical causes of repatriation among commercial seafarers and offshore workers.

Materials and methods: As per Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for scoping reviews, a search for papers in English of Medline, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Scopus and Oceanic Abstracts was conducted. Studies that reported medical causes of repatriations in commercial seafarers and offshore workers were included. For the purposes of this study, commercial seafarers and offshore workers are defined as persons working in the maritime environment for three or more consecutives days. Recreational seafarers, passengers, and military personnel were excluded. Included papers underwent data extraction and medical causes of repatriation were classified into International Classification of Disease (ICD) 11th Revision codes.

Results: The search yielded 33 publications including 27 retrospective studies and 6 case studies. 9 of 27 studies focused on offshore workers and 18 included seafarers. The most common causes of medical repatriation reported in the literature were injuries, poisonings, and other consequences of external causes (ICD-22, ICD-23) at 25.2%. Diseases of the digestive system, including dental, (ICD-13) comprised 15.9%, and the musculoskeletal system (ICD-15) was 13.3%.

Conclusions: Gaps in the available literature included a lack of demographic and occupational information required to properly assess risk factors for occupational illnesses and injuries among seafarers. The data indicate that injuries, diseases of the gastrointestinal system, and musculoskeletal system are the most common literature-reported causes of repatriation in occupational seafarers. This work may support enhancements to onboard medical capability and medical standards for workers in the marine and offshore industries.

Infectious diseases have been reported to adversely affect industries including tourism. Understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of at-risk populations is crucial to implementing successful preventive and mitigative measures. This systematic review aimed to identify factors that affect the spread of infectious diseases among crew members on board cruise ships. A systematic search of Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar was conducted, and nine studies were included in the final analysis. Findings revealed good knowledge levels, but misconceptions about transmission were common. Discriminatory attitudes and risky behaviors were also reported. Primary sources of information included the media, participatory educative sessions, healthcare providers and family and friends. There is a need to prioritize the initiation of participatory-focused health literacy interventions to enhance knowledge, and attitudes to modify the behavior of seafarers in relation to infectious diseases.

Background: Indonesia is a country with vast marine areas. It is also part of the world's coral reef triangle, which means that Indonesia has various types of coral reef species. This gives Indonesia a very strong maritime potential. Consequently, many Indonesians work as fishermen. In Pelita Jaya Hamlet, the majority of people work as tuna fishermen. Fishing is a job with high physical activity, so fishermen have the potential to experience musculoskeletal disorders. Musculoskeletal disorders are problems that occur in the human muscular and skeletal systems, characterized by pain, numbness, and limited movement.

Materials and methods: This was an analytical observational study with a cross-sectional design approach, involving a sample of 68 people.

Results: Based on the analysis of this study, there was no significant relationship between individual characteristics and musculoskeletal disorders, with a p value of 0.808 for age, 0.190 for BMI, 0.357 for work duration, 0.618 for work period, and 0.733 for smoking habits ( > 0.05). However, a significant relationship was found between age and musculoskeletal disorders of the back, with a p value of 0.028.

Conclusions: There is no significant relationship between individual characteristics and musculoskeletal disorders, However, there is a significant relationship between age and disorders of the back in tuna fishermen in Pelita Jaya Hamlet, West Seram Regency.

Background: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can be used as a therapeutic modality for conditions other than decompression diseases, including wound healing in gangrene, compromised grafts and flaps, crush injuries, thermal burns, and intracranial abscesses. Beginning more recently, HBOT has also been used as an alternative treatment strategy for respiratory conditions in patients with COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the use of HBOT in the healing processes of the above-listed conditions.

Material and methods: For this descriptive retrospective study, the authors used the data of patients who received HBOT at Manado Regional Hospital in Indonesia from January 2017 to December 2020. Patients were identified retrospectively according to their ICD-10 codes.

Results: Of the 128 patients who had received HBOT, 60 had received it for decompression sickness (46.87%), 29 for thermal burns (22.65%), 19 for diabetic ulcers (14.84%), six for crush injuries, six for skin grafts, six for pre- or post-amputation (4.68%), and two for gangrene (1.56%).

Conclusions: Used for decompression sickness in 46.87% of cases and for wound healing in 50.13% of cases, HBOT is not only for decompression sickness but can be used as a therapeutic modality for other conditions as well.

Background: Dockers are occupationally exposed to respirable particles derived from organic dust, inorganic dust and/or diesel combustion particles.

Objective: To analyse chest radiological findings in a group of dockworkers and the influencing factors.

Material and methods: Descriptive study of dockers in a port whose main activity is loading and unloading sand. Applying the specific Health Surveillance Protocol for exposure to silicosis, chest X-rays were taken in situ with a mobile unit. Radiographic data taken between 2016 and 2023 are included. The interpretation of the images was performed according to the ILO Guidelines, by radiologists with expertise in this technique.

Results: Of the 268 workers (258 men and 10 women), with a median age of 40 years and an average length of service of 16 years, 43% were smokers and 18% were ex-smokers. Chest radiological abnormalities were observed in 22 workers (8.2%), all males. There were no cases of silicosis. Profusion 1/0 was observed in 5 workers (all smokers, in 4 the profusion changed from 0/1 in 2019 to 1/0 in 2023 and in 1 it was detected in the initial health examination) and in 6 the profusion was 0/1. The rest of the alterations are findings in soft tissue, skeleton or residual pleuroparenchymal lesions.

Conclusions: The absence of established silicosis indicates that the preventive measures carried out in this group are effective. Of the relevant radiological findings, two are possible tumours and in cases of progression of images suggestive of pneumoconiosis, all of them are smokers. It is necessary to insist on anti-smoking campaigns among workers.

Background: Seafarers are exposed to a variety of job-specific physical and psychosocial stressors. Health promotion on board is of great importance for the salutogenesis of this occupational group. Due to the difficult accessibility of seafarers, electronically supported health management can be highly valuable. However, surveys on the needs and interests of seafarers in health promotion regarding e-health applications have not yet been carried out.

Material and methods: This pilot study uses a cross-sectional design to assess the need for digital health promotion for seafarers on board. This need was derived from the individual responses of 73 crew members on 3 merchant ships on health as well as addictive behavior, sports, coping strategies, and the level of knowledge regarding health-related issues. Conspicuous parameters on mental health and fatigue were compared to the general population.

Results: It was found that 31.9% of seafarers were smokers and 80.6% were alcohol consumers. 82.4% of the seafarers practiced sport. The most common coping strategies for stress were calming down (44.6%), listening to music (32.1%), resting and sleeping (25.0%) and sports (25.0%). The evaluation of the PHQ-9 mental health questionnaires indicated that 85.4% of respondents had moderate to severe symptoms of a depressive mood. The average WHO-5 Well-Being Index resulted in level of 69.7% of the maximum possible score. Knowledge questions on health-related issues were answered correctly in less than 60% of cases. With regard to fatigue, there was an increased score for the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) in 33.8% and the Pupillary Unrest Index (PUI) was elevated in 47.7%.

Conclusions: Nicotine and alcohol consumption is higher among the participating seafarers compared to a reference population living on land. Various coping strategies for managing stress are already used in the daily live. However, there is a demand and interest in acquiring more knowledge about health-promoting behavior. The risk of daytime sleepiness and depression is elevated among seafarers. This leads to key issues that should be taken into account for preventive medicine, health promotion and possible digitally supported health management on board.

Background: Job Stress Scale (JSS) by Parker and DeCotiis (1983) which consists of two dimensions: time stress and anxiety stress, is a relevant scale to seafaring context. The psychometric properties of JSS have yet to be examined in the Malaysian context.

Aims: This study attempts to examine the reliability and validity of the Job Stress Scale (JSS) among Malaysian Seafarers.

Methods: An online questionnaire was created and distributed to a convenience sample of 390 Malaysian seafarers from various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Results: The results support JSS as a multi-dimensional construct with two-dimension, time stress and anxiety stress. The JSS also has established convergent and discriminant validity. For validation through correlation with other related measures, organizational justice and work stress were correlated.

Conclusions: The JSS has established psychometric properties and can be proposed to be used as a tool to assess work stress among seafarers.