The Epidemiological Profile and Morbidity-Mortality Patterns of Technological Disasters in the Americas from 2000 to 2021: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Technological disasters in the Americas have significant public health and environmental implications, but there is limited epidemiological analysis of these events. This study aims to characterize the epidemiological profile of technological disasters in the Americas from 2000 to 2021, focusing on morbidity and mortality trends. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The ANOVA test was applied in the mean rates calculated for each type of disaster. The Mann-Kendall test assessed the presence or absence of temporal trends, and the Dickey-Fuller augmented test was used to determine if the time series were stationary. Predictions were made up to the year 2030 to mean mortality rate per million inhabitants, mean rate of affected individuals per million inhabitants, and mean rate of injuries per million inhabitants. Results A total of 733 technological disasters were recorded in the Americas. Statistically significant differences were found between the mean rates of affected individuals and the mean mortality rates per million inhabitants for each type of technological disaster. No trends were identified. Conclusions The highest rates of fatalities and affected individuals occurred within industrial accidents.