Abstract

BACKGROUND: Repatriation represents a serious outcome of illness or injury among seafarers at sea. The aim of this study was to describe repatriation patterns due to injury and illness in a seafarer cohort, and determine risk factors for repatriation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study analysed a telemedicine database of 3,921 seafarer injury and illness cases over a 4 year period using descriptive statistics and logistic regression.
RESULTS: There were 61 repatriations over the study period (1.6% of cases). Most repatriations were due to illness (38; 62.3%) as opposed to injury (23; 37.7%). Back injuries and gastrointestinal illness were the most frequent causes of repatriations. Using logistic regression, nationality was identified as a significant risk factor for repatriation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes illness as a major cause of seafarer repatriation, and suggests opportunities for future studies to identify potentially modifiable risk factors.

Details

Title
Risk factors for merchant seafarer repatriation due to injury or illness at sea
Author
Lefkowitz, Rafael Y. 1 ; Slade, Martin D.; Redlich, Carrie A.

 Yale Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, New Haven, CT, United States Department of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States. [email protected] 
First page
61
End page
66
Publication year
2015
Publication date
2015
Publisher
Wydawnictwo Via Medica
ISSN
16419251
e-ISSN
20813252
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2464220553
Copyright
© 2015. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.