Burden of disease attributable to the Hebei Spirit oil spill in Taean, Korea

Abstract

ObjectivesWe aimed to assess the burden of disease (BOD) of the residents living in contaminated coastal area with oil spill and also analysed the BOD attributable to the oil spill by disease, age, sex and subregion.DesignHealth impact assessment by measuring years lived with disability (YLD) due to an oil spill.SettingA whole population of a community affected by an anthropogenic environmental disaster and secondary health outcome data.ParticipantsBased on the health outcome survey including 10 171 individuals (male 4354; female 5817), BOD of 66 473 populations (male 33 441; female 33 032) was measured.InterventionsNone. Observational study on the effect of a specific environmental health hazard.Primary and secondary outcome measuresUsing disability adjusted life year (DALY) method, BOD including physical and mental diseases was measured. For the BOD measurement, excess incidences of illnesses related to oil spill were estimated from the comparison of prevalence of the health outcomes between contaminated areas and reference area without contamination.ResultsYLD attributable to the oil spill were estimated to be 14 724 DALYs (male 7425 DALYs; female 7299 DALYs) for the year 2008. The YLD of mental diseases including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression for men were higher than that for women. The YLD for women was higher in asthma and allergies (rhinitis, dermatitis, conjunctivitis) than that for men. The effects of asthma and allergies were the greatest for people in their 40s, with the burden of mental illness being the greatest for those in their 20s. Proximity to the spill site was associated with increased BOD.ConclusionsAn oil spill near a coastline can cause substantial adverse health effects. As the health effects of hazardous pollutants from oil spills are long-lasting, close follow-up studies are required to identify chronic health effects.

Quantifying Burden of Disease to Measure Population Health in Korea

“…The various KBD DALY measurement studies (1314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435) can be narrowed down to two major works supported by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The first, KBD 2002, was a 4-year research project and involved the collaboration of five institutions (Seoul National University, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Kyung Hee University, Sungkyunkwan University, and Hanyang University).…”

Exploring heterogeneity and correlates of depressive symptoms in the Women and Their Children's Health (WaTCH) Study

“…Often, the one-step method can be biased, while the three-step method overcomes these limitations (Asparouhov and Muthén, 2014). An added strength is that we performed an assessment of a variety of potential oil spill exposures beyond the scope of exposure assessments done in prior studies of the mental health effects of oil spills (Fan et al, 2015; Kim et al, 2013; Lyons et al, 1999; Morris et al, 2013; Osofsky et al, 2011; Palinkas et al, 1992, 1993). …”

“…Moreover, we implemented more robust assessment of and control for many potential confounders than prior studies of oil spill exposure and mental health (Fan et al, 2015; Kim et al, 2013; Lyons et al, 1999; Morris et al, 2013; Osofsky et al, 2011; Palinkas et al, 1992, 1993). In addition to direct physical exposure, we were also able to assess a variety of economic oil spill exposures.…”

“…More than one third of the Gulf was closed for fishing; 8000 to 12,000 workers were temporarily unemployed due to a six month moratorium on offshore drilling; and tourism suffered due to fears of oil contamination (Pallardy, 2015). Evidence supports that oil spill exposures resultant from technological disaster are associated with poor mental health outcomes, including increased levels of depression (Fan et al, 2015; Kim et al, 2013; Osofsky et al, 2011; Palinkas et al, 1993), which could be due not only to acute stress associated with exposure to the oil, but also to such consequences of the disaster as financial loss, community and life disruptions, and the recovery process.…”

“…Prior population-based studies examining mental health effects of oil spills have used screening tools to measure depressive symptoms either continuously (Drescher et al, 2014; Morris et al, 2013; Palinkas et al, 1992) or dichotomously (Fan et al, 2015; Kim et al, 2013; Lyons et al, 1999; Osofsky et al, 2011; Palinkas et al, 1993). Use of dichotomous outcomes, however, results in loss of information and power to detect true associations (Lagakos, 1988) and masking of severity or heterogeneity in outcomes among people within categories (Breslow NE, 1980).…”