Psychotropic Drug Use in Recreational Scuba Divers and its Effect on Severe Narcosis.

Recreational scuba diving is no longer reserved for young healthy individuals, and as a result, medical drug consumption is on the rise in the diving population. Due to the possible potentiation of nitrogen narcosis by psychotropic drugs, the latter are hence discouraged and are subject to contraindications for practice. However, there are no available experimental data to support this theoretical assumption. The objective of this study is to investigate whether psychotropic drug users are more at risk of severe narcosis. An online survey was sent to the licensed divers from the East of France registered with the French Underwater Federation. Divers were surveyed regarding their consumption of psychotropic drugs, the occurrence of nitrogen narcosis as well as their respective diver's curriculum vitae.1 608 divers responded to the survey of which 15.2% confirmed having used psychotropic drugs and 7.8% since they became divers. Overall, 40.0% and 5.5% experienced severe and critical narcosis. In multivariate analysis, neither severe nor critical narcosis was associated with psychotropic drug use (OR 0.97 [0.59-1.57] and 0.76 [0.29-2.00], respectively).In conclusion, despite the recommendations, a significant proportion of divers use psychotropic drugs but do not seem to be more prone to severe narcosis.

Patologías profesionales de los buceadores del sector de la acuicultura marina y su impacto sobre la capacidad de trabajo / Occupational diseases in divers of the aquaculture sector and its impact on their work ability

La acuicultura marina, representa un importante avance y oportunidad para la producción de alimentos y en los últimos años se ha posicionado por delante del sector pesquero. Dentro de dicho sector, el puesto de buceador acuicultor, está sujeto a unas condiciones de trabajo que conllevan una especial penosidad, peligrosidad o toxicidad, siendo una de las actividades de mayor siniestralidad en relación con el número de trabajadores. Además, los requerimientos psicofísicos exigidos por la legislación para la aptitud laboral para el desempeño del buceo profesional, pueden ser difíciles de alcanzar a partir de cierta edad o estado biológico. Las variaciones en el volumen del gas o aire en el interior del organismo, consecuente al trabajo en un ambiente a sobrepresión, puede causar alteraciones fisiopatológicas y lesiones tisulares, tanto en el ascenso como en el descenso, lo que se conoce como barotraumatísmos. Además, el trabajo de inmersión supone un riesgo por cambios en la solubilidad de los gases (esencialmente nitrógeno) difecon el riesgo de enfermedad descompresiva, caracterizada por la aparición de microembolias que pueden afectar a diferentes órganos y sistemas. Todos estos riesgos y los daños para la salud asociados, pueden suponer un deterioro en la capacidad física de los trabajadores. Por ello, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio de dicha capacidad, entendida como la capacidad de un individuo para realizar su trabajo con respecto a las demandas laborales específicas y a los cambios que ésta va sufriendo a lo largo de la vida, mediante el cálculo de índice de capacidad para trabajar propuesto por el instituto finlandés de salud ocupacional. Todos estos factores a los que se van a ver sometidos los buceadores acuicultores suponen un importante desgaste, cuyo deterioro se puede agravar o acelerar por el proceso natural que supone el propio envejecimiento, por lo que se plantea el presente estudio, con el objetivo de analizar el estado de salud percibido por los buceadores del sector de la acuicultura marina, determinar la prevalencia de accidentes y enfermedades relacionadas con los riesgos del trabajo a sobrepresión bajo el agua, y finalmente, analizar su impacto sobre la capacidad para trabajar (AU)

Marine aquaculture represents a major breakthrough and an opportunity for food production and in recent years it has positioneditself in the first positions of the fishing sector. Within the sector, the aqua-farmer position is subject to working conditions involving a special drudgery, danger and toxicity, making it one of the activities with the highest rates of accidents related to the number of workers. Furthermore, psychophysical requirements required by the current legislation concerning occupational aptitude for professional diving performance, can be difficult to achieve at a certain age or biological state. Variations in gas or air volume inside the body, resulting of an overpressured work environment, can cause tissue injuries and pathophysiological changes in both the immersion and ascent which is known as barotrauma. Moreover, the work of immersion is a health hazard due to the changes in the solubility of gases (essentially nitrogen) with the risk of decompression sickness, characterized by the appearance of microemboli, which may affect various organs and systems. All these risks and its associated health damages might mean deterioration in the physical capacity of the workers. Therefore, a study of this capacity has been carried out. This capacity should be understood as the ability of an individual to perform their work in respect with the specific demands of the job and the changes which are brought about in its lifetime, by calculating the work ability indexproposed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. All these factors which affect aqua-farmers mean a considerable wear, which can aggravate or accelerate the natural ageing process itself. This raises the present study, which aims to analyze the health status as perceived by aqua-farmers, to determine the prevalence of accidents and diseases related to the risks from working under water pressure, and finally, to analyze their impact on the ability to work (AU)

Decompression sickness and recreational scuba divers.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to clear the status of recreational scuba divers in Japan for promoting safety in recreational diving. METHODS: A five year (from 1996 to 2001) questionnaire survey was performed of Japanese divers at the Osezaki area in Japan. The subjects of this survey included diving instructors as well as recreational divers. Based on the obtained data, the study investigated the theory predicted incidence of decompression sickness (DCS) among Japanese recreational divers. RESULTS: The average (SD) of the maximum depth for diving was 37.4 (13.1) metres, which was deeper than the recommended depth of recreational diving. The incident rate of nitrogen narcosis (12%) was the most frequent, followed by barotraumas of the ear (11%) and barotraumas of the paranasal sinus (5.6%). The rate of DCS was 1.9 % (60 divers) during investigated period, and that DCS occurred once per 19 011 dives in calculation. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation showed that the status of leisure diving in Japan is still serious, because DCS would be expected to occur once a weekend in Japan. It is speculated that many divers may develop DCS while moving through high altitudes after diving, particularly at the Osezaki diving spot in Japan. Based on the results of this study, it is emphasised that every Japanese leisure diver should take an increasing interest in the safety of diving activity.