Follow-up of citations of maritime epidemiological injury studies.

Background: The article is based on a review and follow-up of the citations of 13 epidemiological studies that aimed to improve maritime health and safety. While it's well-recognised that epidemiology is needed in occupational health and safety, the main research question: "How can epidemiology help workers to return healthy from the sea" was unanswered.

Materials And Methods: The 13 articles were selected as a representative sample of different epidemiological design studies intended to contribute to improving safety management in fishing, merchant shipping and offshore industry. The PubMed, Research Gate, Cochrane-Library and Google Scholar were searched for authors that had cited our articles by using full bibliographic information and the results analysed.

Results: In all, 213 citation records were identified. After duplicates and records with insufficient information were removed, 123 full-text articles were eligible for evaluation with answers to the research questions: how did other authors use the studies, how has the injury epidemiology been developed, which recommendations are given for new policies and new studies and how can epidemiology help workers return safe and healthy from the sea?

Conclusions: The answer to the main research question is yes, epidemiological studies are not only useful but a necessary component by providing the needed evidence for successful prevention programmes.