Abstract:
Objective To identify the epidemiological trends and characteristics of occupational diseases in Zhenjiang City from 2006 to 2013, and to provide scientific basis for making prevention and control measures.
Methods A statistical analysis was performed on the reported data of occupational diseases in Zhenjiang City from 2006 to 2013.
Results A total of 659 cases of occupational diseases (31 types, 7 classes) were diagnosed and reported in Zhenjiang City during 2006-2013. Pneumoconiosis (79.97%), occupational poisoning (6.07%), and occupational dermatosis (5.61%) were the top three incidents. Silicosis was the most occurred disease in the category of pneumoconiosis, and accounted for 59.20% of all cases of pneumoconiosis. In the cases of occupational poisoning, 32.5% suffered from acute occupational poisoning and 67.5% suffered from chronic occupational poisoning. Among all the acute occupational poisoning cases, 53.85% were caused by chloromethane and ranked the first cause. While in the category of chronic occupational poisoning, two leading causes were hexane (62.96%) and benzene (25.93%). Among all the cases of occupational dermatosis, 54.05% were chemical skin burns. The reported occupational ear, nose, and throat diseases were all noise-induced deafness. It was found that the occupational diseases mainly occurred in males from small and medium enterprises of construction, electric power, non-metallic mineral mining, cement, and coal industry.
Conclusion The main occupational diseases in Zhenjiang City are pneumoconiosis, occupational poisonings caused by chloromethane, hexane, and benzene, occupational dermatosis, and noise-induced deafness. Occupational health supervision should focus on small and medium enterprises of construction, power, non-metallic mineral mining, cement, and coal industry.