ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Seafarers are exposed to many occupational risk factors. AIMS: To study whether there are differences in mortality between seafarers and other employees, whether there are variations in seafarers' mortality between different seafaring occupations and whether these differences can be explained by sociodemographic factors. METHODS: A register-based study of all seafarers aged 25-64 years, resident in Finland in 2000 with minimum 5 years of cumulative seafaring experience on Finnish vessels and other employees, followed for mortality 2001-13. Analysis methods included age standardized death rates, mortality ratios (SMR) and Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: During the follow-up period 2001-13, there were 81,035 person years and 382 deaths in the cohort of seafarers. Seafarers had 1.3 times higher risk of death (men SMR 132, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 118-147, women SMR 125, 95% CI 99-157) than other employees. Mortality was especially high in alcohol-related causes (men SMR 172, 95% CI 126-233, women SMR 262, 95% CI 131-525) and causes related to smoking. Controlling for sociodemographic characters strengthened the risk compared to other occupations. Mortality was high among male deck and engine crew and among male and female galley personnel. The mortality differences between different seafaring occupations were partly explained by adjustments of sociodemographic characters. CONCLUSIONS: Seafarers still have increased mortality among men after adjustment of sociodemographic characters. Results by causes of death suggest that changing practices to enable healthy behaviour are important.
