Morbidity and health survey of wintering members in Japanese Antarctic research expedition

Abstract

Study design. The Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) started in 1956. Syowa Station is the mother station of JARE at 69°00’S and 39°35’E in East Antarctica. An epidemiological survey of the wintering team of JARE was carried out based on the annual reports of JARE over the period 1956–2001. Methods. The total number of personnel was 1,236 including 3 females. The age of personnel was from 21 to 56 (average 33.1). We examined the proportion of personnel who had contracted disease with healthy personnel, as reported by the medical department at Syowa as well as a health survey of the latest party by biochemical analyses. Results. The total number of diseases was 4,760. The ratios of surgical-orthopedic, internal medical, and dental cases were 45%, 23%, and 13%, respectively. Only one death from a blizzard was recorded. In the latest party, serum levels for triglyceride, calcium, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase increased during the wintering period. Conclusion. The very low mortality of JARE may be due to the effective personnel selection and that there have been no severe accidents. There has been no deterioration in nutritional parameters in JARE recently.

Key Words:

• Antarctica
• disease distribution
• health survey
• frostbite
• stress-related diseases
• ultraviolet ray-related diseases