Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Sep 25;11:726. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-726.
The present study used insurance claims data to investigate infections associated with short-term water outage because of constructions or pipe breaks.
The present study used medical claims of one million insured persons for 2004-2006. We estimated incidences of gastroenteritis and eye and skin complaints for 10 days before, during, and after 10 days of water supply restriction for outpatient visits and for emergency and in-patient care combined.
There was an increase in medical services for these complaints in outpatient visits because of water outages. Poisson regression analyses showed that increased risks of medical services were significant for gastroenteritis (relative risk [RR] 1.31, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.26-1.37), skin disease (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.30-1.42), and eye disease patients (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.26-1.44). Similar risks were observed during 10-day lag periods. Compared with those in cool days, risks of medical services are higher when average daily temperature is above 30 °C for gastroenteritis (RR 12.1, 95% CI 6.17-23.7), skin diseases (RR 4.48, 95% CI 2.29-8.78), and eye diseases (RR 40.3, 95% CI 7.23-224).
We suggest promoting personal hygiene education during water supply shortages, particularly during the warm months.
本研究使用保险索赔数据调查了因施工或管道破裂导致的短期停水引起的感染。
本研究使用了 2004 年至 2006 年期间 100 万被保险人的医疗索赔数据。我们估算了在停水 10 天前后 10 天内，因门诊就诊和急诊及住院治疗而发生的肠胃炎、眼部和皮肤投诉的发生率。
由于停水，门诊就诊的这些投诉的医疗服务有所增加。泊松回归分析显示，肠胃炎（相对风险 [RR] 1.31，95%置信区间 [CI] 1.26-1.37）、皮肤病（RR 1.36，95%CI 1.30-1.42）和眼病患者（RR 1.34，95%CI 1.26-1.44）的医疗服务风险增加具有统计学意义。在 10 天的滞后期内也观察到了类似的风险。与凉爽天气相比，当平均日温度高于 30°C 时，肠胃炎（RR 12.1，95%CI 6.17-23.7）、皮肤病（RR 4.48，95%CI 2.29-8.78）和眼病（RR 40.3，95%CI 7.23-224）的医疗服务风险更高。
我们建议在供水短缺期间，特别是在温暖的月份，加强个人卫生教育。
