It is crucial to achieve sustainable development goals for the health of fishery workers in the face of climate change because of specific working environments. Fishery workers face a risky work environment that frequently results in specific injuries and fatalities. However, only a few studies have compared the health status of fishery workers with that of farmers and employed workers of similar socioeconomic status through long-term longitudinal follow-up. Methods: This retrospective cohort study made use of a subset of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database called the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000. Included were only employed workers, farmers, and fishery workers. Participants newly diagnosed with 18 diseases—cardiometabolic diseases, mental illness, chronic kidney disease, infection, and malignancy—were included based on the majority of causes of death and related diseases. Participants who had been diagnosed with these diseases in the past were left out. From the first day of the study, July 1, 2000, to the date of diagnosis and withdrawal, or December 31, 2012, whichever came first, all included participants were followed up. We used the Cox model to investigate the health status of the participants in a cohort study that was propensity score-matched due to the significant difference in the baseline demographics. Results: In the wake of coordinating, there were unimportant contrasts in the pattern socioeconomics of fishery laborers, ranchers, and utilized specialists. Fishermen were more likely than farmers and employed workers to be diagnosed with 11 and 14 diseases, including hypertension (hazard ratio [HR]: Diabetes (HR: 1.11, p 0.01), Dyslipidemia (HR: 1.21, p 0.001), and Depression (HR: 1.18, p 0.001), Peptic ulcer (HR: 1.38, p 0.001), 1.17, p 0.001), and chronic hepatitis caused by viruses (HR: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HR: 2.06, p 0.001), 1.67, p 0.001), as well as total cancer (HR: 1.26, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Fishery workers were more susceptible to cardiometabolic diseases, mental illness, infection, and malignancy than farmers and employed workers. As a result, in order to reduce health inequality, it is absolutely necessary to place a particular emphasis on health policies for fishermen, such as the provision of antiviral treatments that can cure the virus and the implementation of health promotion programs tailored to the culture.
KeywordsFishery workers; Propensity score-matched; Cox proportional hazard model; Cardiometabolic diseases; Chronic viral hepatitis
Published Date: 2023-03-31; Received Date: 2023-03-02
