Disease and injury statistics of Japanese Antarctic research expeditions during the wintering period: evaluation of 6837 cases in the 1st–56th parties – Antarctic health report in 1956–2016

Figures & data

Table 1. Details of diseases and injuries by expedition and by type of medical case in 1956–2016

Department	Disease and injury	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Jan.	Total
Surgery and Orthopedics	Injury	55	81	43	45	42	47	47	31	39	48	51	38	567
	Frostbite	7	14	38	85	29	38	63	49	32	19	2	11	387
	Contused wound, distortion	47	66	46	41	34	36	45	51	61	41	60	39	567
	Arthralgia, muscle pain, neuralgia, tendovaginitis	43	52	38	38	46	31	41	39	48	57	44	43	520
	Lumbago, disk hernia	43	38	19	38	20	37	30	25	43	37	31	29	390
	Haemorrhoid	7	11	8	6	15	15	18	13	9	7	7	8	124
	Skin infection	13	13	8	8	6	9	10	9	10	10	8	11	115
	Burn	13	5	5	8	3	9	4	4	9	7	8	6	81
	Fracture	5	5	5	4	3	4	4	3	7	7	5	4	56
	Skin tumour	1	3	4	7	5	5	1	5	5	9	5	5	55
	Foreign	6	10	2	9	1	3	8	5	4	3	11	4	66
	Appendicitis	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
	Others	2	1	3	4	2	2	4	0	1	0	1	2	22
	Total	243	300	219	293	206	236	275	234	268	246	233	200	2953
Internal medicine	Digestive system	49	67	59	68	68	50	67	49	45	46	51	63	682
	Respiratory system	17	19	21	41	20	18	14	20	12	20	43	34	279
	Headache	9	10	7	11	17	15	17	10	24	12	8	10	150
	Carbon monoxide poisoning	0	0	2	14	5	11	1	8	1	4	0	0	46
	Circulatory system	4	10	10	5	9	8	12	7	6	9	5	2	87
	Mountain sickness	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	2	0	0	3	9
	Tired, weakness	2	2	0	5	1	1	1	1	1	6	2	2	24
	Gout	2	0	0	1	0	1	2	6	1	3	3	0	19
	Alcoholism	0	0	3	1	5	1	1	1	1	0	0	3	16
	Others	2	12	3	4	2	3	4	3	6	4	2	3	48
	Total	85	120	106	150	127	108	121	106	99	104	114	120	1360
Dentistry	Crown dislocation	26	33	22	25	12	28	21	32	29	25	32	28	313
	Dental caries	14	10	8	9	5	11	13	9	12	8	9	23	131
	Periodontitis	10	11	13	14	13	20	19	17	16	9	14	22	178
	Root canal disease	3	3	3	2	1	3	1	3	2	3	2	6	32
	Injury	1	2	2	3	4	1	5	3	7	4	2	1	35
	Others	2	12	3	4	6	7	6	8	6	3	5	7	69
	Total	56	71	51	57	41	70	65	72	72	52	64	87	758
Dermatology	Tinea	20	12	8	7	6	10	6	9	12	5	11	14	120
	Contact dermatitis	3	12	7	3	13	3	2	7	10	6	10	1	77
	Eczema, dermatitis	22	15	12	8	11	7	12	9	15	14	11	12	148
	Photo dermatitis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	16	5	0	29
	Keratosis	1	5	3	2	5	1	1	0	1	2	0	2	23
	Urticaria	4	2	3	2	2	1	5	5	2	0	1	4	31
	Cheilitis, angular cheilosis	1	5	0	3	2	6	3	3	7	9	6	6	51
	Pompholyx	7	0	1	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	0	0	13
	Chilblain	1	0	3	0	1	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	11
	Wart	1	1	2	2	1	2	4	0	1	1	0	2	17
	Impetigo	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4
	Shingles	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	5
	Others	4	4	4	5	1	1	0	1	1	1	4	2	28
	Total	65	56	46	32	42	34	41	35	56	58	48	44	557
Ophthalmology	Foreign bodies	26	20	6	5	5	6	6	3	5	7	13	7	109
	Keratoconjunctivitis, blepharitis	11	17	8	6	5	6	8	6	8	14	12	8	109
	Hordeolum, chalazion	2	6	7	5	3	7	5	9	5	8	3	4	64
	Asthenopia	2	3	6	3	4	4	2	3	8	6	5	1	47
	Ophthalmia, ultraviolet ophthalmia	3	1	3	0	0	1	1	3	15	5	5	2	39
	Injury	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	1	7
	Others	1	1	4	2	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	3	15
	Total	45	48	34	23	18	24	23	26	42	41	40	26	390
Otorhinolaryngology	Aphtha	9	7	6	8	4	11	9	5	4	6	15	11	95
	Pharyngitis	3	13	6	10	5	14	9	9	12	8	16	17	122
	Rhinitis	1	9	6	5	5	6	5	2	11	3	4	7	64
	Otitis	4	1	2	2	2	3	1	4	9	3	0	0	31
	Pharyngeal foreign bodies	0	1	3	0	3	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	10
	Gloss disorder	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	5
	Others	1	0	3	4	3	4	2	1	3	3	3	2	29
	Total	19	31	26	29	23	39	27	22	41	23	38	38	356
Psychiatry	Insomnia	2	2	4	13	9	21	11	6	1	7	5	8	89
	Depression	0	2	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	8
	Total	2	4	4	14	10	22	11	6	1	7	6	10	97
Urology	Urolithiasis	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	0	3	0	0	13
	Cystitis	1	0	0	1	2	2	2	0	1	0	0	2	11
	Others	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5
	Total	4	3	2	2	3	4	3	1	1	3	0	3	29
Gynaecology	Dysmenorrhoea	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2
	Total	519	634	488	600	470	537	566	502	580	535	543	528	6502
Department	Disease and injury	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	Jan.	Total

Figure 1. Range and average age of members in each expedition. The bar graph represents the age range, and the red line graph represents the average age. The mean age of members in each expedition gradually increased and exceeded 37 years old after the 50th expedition. The 2nd and 6th expeditions were not overwintering

Figure 2. Rate of diseases by medical departments. The cases and their rates were as follows: surgical-orthopaedic, 45.3%; internal medical, 21.7%; dental, 11.6%; dermatological, 8.4%; ophthalmological, 5.8%; otorhinolaryngological, 5.3%; psychiatric, 1.6%; and urological, 0.1% cases

Figure 3. Change in rate based on departments. No major change was noted in the rates based on departments

Table 2. Details of the classification and number of diseases and injuries by month and by type of medical case in 1956–2016 excluding the 2nd and 6th expeditions without habitation and the 1st and 24th expeditions without descriptions of the numbers of injuries and diseases

JARE	Year		Members	Surgery and Orthopedics	Internal medicine	Dentistry	Dermatology	Ophthalmology	Otorhinolaryngology		Psychiatry		Urology		Gynecology		Total	Cases/member/year
1		1956–1958	11
2		1957–1958
3	1958–1960		14	39	14	14	4	1	3		4		1		0		80	5.7
4	1959–1961		15	11	4	2	0	1	0		0		0		0		18	1.2
5	1960–1962		16	34	8	5	0	0	0		0		0		0		47	2.9
6		1961–1962
7	1965–1967		18	17	16	4	9	2	5		2		0		0		55	3.1
8	1966–1968		24	62	36	9	4	5	2		0		0		0		118	4.9
9	1967–1969		29	64	29	10	2	5	2		0		0		0		112	3.9
10	1968–1969		28	79	33	7	15	9	6		0		0		0		149	5.3
11	1969–1971		30	126	83	24	8	13	17		8		0		0		279	9.3
12	1970–1972		29	60	16	9	4	7	0		3		0		0		99	3.4
13	1971–1973		30	26	23	9	0	2	0		0		1		0		61	2.0
14	1972–1974		30	23	14	6	2	0	2		0		0		0		47	1.6
15	1973–1975		30	39	11	16	0	0	0		0		0		0		66	2.2
16	1974–1976		30	63	37	12	0	8	11		0		0		0		131	4.4
17	1975–1977		29	40	14	19	2	1	0		5		0		0		81	2.8
18	1976–1978		30	55	17	15	0	4	0		0		0		0		91	3.0
19	1977–1979		30	58	26	16	20	6	0		2		2		0		130	4.3
20	1978–1980		30	58	15	7	17	8	1		1		0		0		107	3.6
21	1979–1981		33	45	22	24	7	4	15		0		2		0		119	3.6
22	1980–1982		34	41	12	12	1	5	2		0		0		0		73	2.1
23	1981–1983		34	10	7	7	7	6	0		0		1		0		38	1.1
24		1982–1984	35
25	1983–1985		35	47	16	8	8	12	5		1		0		0		97	2.8
26	1984–1986		35	43	17	32	28	14	1		0		1		0		136	3.9
27	1985–1987		35	31	29	11	7	7	1		4		1		0		91	2.6
28	1986–1988		37	57	20	18	10	10	2		4		0		0		121	3.3
29	1987–1989		37	39	11	21	7	13	7		0		0		0		98	2.6
30	1988–1990		37	41	27	5	9	18	3		3		0		0		106	2.9
31	1989–1991		38	48	21	12	4	6	1		0		0		0		92	2.4
32	1990–1992		39	96	32	27	6	15	7		0		1		0		184	4.7
33	1991–1993		36	42	15	21	7	3	1		0		1		0		90	2.5
34	1992–1994		39	52	28	23	4	7	4		1		0		0		119	3.1
35	1993–1995		40	145	87	45	34	18	21		0		3		0		353	8.8
36	1994–1996		40	71	80	16	14	11	8		8		0		0		208	5.2
37	1995–1997		40	108	53	28	26	19	19		0		1		0		254	6.4
38	1996–1998		40	63	38	18	17	6	6		27		0		0		175	4.4
39	1997–1999		39	86	52	24	22	5	7		10		2		0		208	5.3
40	1998–2000		40	150	85	26	33	12	23		4		0		0		333	8.3
41	1999–2001		40	67	48	40	17	17	4		0		2		0		195	4.9
42	2000–2002		40	36	14	12	3	8	4		0		0		0		77	1.9
43	2001–2003		40	42	26	14	16	6	3		0		0		0		107	2.7
44	2002–2004		44	72	22	16	23	10	24		1		1		0		169	3.8
45	2003–2005		42	128	43	27	14	17	25		6		1		2		263	6.3
46	2004–2006		37	101	20	13	15	9	23		1		1		0		183	4.9
47	2005–2007		35	96	16	8	26	20	11		0		0		0		177	5.1
48	2006–2008		34	38	11	18	10	8	6		0		4		0		95	2.8
49	2007–2009		29	28	18	6	3	8	4		3		1		0		71	2.4
50	2008–2010		28	36	25	11	8	7	3		1		0		0		91	3.3
51	2009–2011		28	36	17	2	12	4	9		0		0		0		80	2.9
52	2010–2012		30	67	26	9	23	1	12		1		1		0		140	4.7
53	2011–2013		31	37	11	11	8	0	3		0		0		0		70	2.3
54	2012–2014		30	31	20	16	6	3	18		0		1		0		95	3.2
55	2013–2015		24	109	66	17	13	9	16		2		1		0		233	9.7
56	2014–2016		26	101	50	8	36	7	16		7		0		0		225	8.7
Total			1734	3094	1481	790	571	397	363		109		30		2		6837	4

JARE: Japanese Antarctic Research Expeditions.