Filipinos represent the most numerous group of seafarers in the world. Profiling their health issues may help in optimising current protocols, implementing health surveillance programs, and formulating health policies for seafaring personnel. In addition, our study results may help physicians performing pre-employment medical examinations to identify and manage conditions that are at a high risk of medical repatriation.
Background: The length of seafarers' contract has undergone scrutiny regarding the health, welfare, and fatigue of the crew. This study investigates whether a stay of more than 200 days can increase the risk of medical repatriation among Filipino seafarers. Materials and methods: We reviewed the number of medical repatriations from January 2014 to December 2016, specifically those who were repatriated after more than 200 days on board. We used WHO ICD-10 classification to categorise diseases and medical events that cause the repatriation, and classified them under "Injury" or "Illness" as defined by the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification Manual. We also separated those who worked on cargo vessels as well as those who worked on passenger ships. We requested for the total number of seafarers who worked longer than 200 days on board. After calculating a repatriation rate for this specific group of long-term workers, we then compared this with a previous study. Chi-square analysis and regression analysis were applied to analyse the data comparing the passenger versus cargo ships repatriation rates. Results: There were a total of 840 cases of long-term repatriations in this study for the 3 year period. The total number of crew who had stayed for more than 200 days was 51,830. The different causes of repatriation are presented. Repatriation rates are also shown and a study of the regular stay and long term contracts are also compared. Conclusions: There are various disease entities significantly higher in the long term work group. We offer some possible explanations for some of these differences in repatriation rates. This data could be useful in planning of schedules, work hours and contracts as well as the prevention of disease in seafarers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.