Department of Sustainable Waste and Water, City of Gothenburg, Box 123, SE-424 23 Angered, Sweden.
Water Res. 2013 Sep 1;47(13):4474-84. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2013.05.003. Epub 2013 May 10.
There are relatively few studies on the association between disturbances in drinking water services and symptoms of gastrointestinal (GI) illness. Health Call Centres data concerning GI illness may be a useful source of information. This study investigates if there is an increased frequency of contacts with the Health Call Centre (HCC) concerning gastrointestinal symptoms at times when there is a risk of impaired water quality due to disturbances at water works or the distribution network. The study was conducted in Gothenburg, a Swedish city with 0.5 million inhabitants with a surface water source of drinking water and two water works. All HCC contacts due to GI symptoms (diarrhoea, vomiting or abdominal pain) were recorded for a three-year period, including also sex, age, and geocoded location of residence. The number of contacts with the HCC in the affected geographical areas were recorded during eight periods of disturbances in the water works (e.g. short stops of chlorine dosing), six periods of large disturbances in the distribution network (e.g. pumping station failure or pipe breaks with major consequences), and 818 pipe break and leak repairs over a three-year period. For each period of disturbance the observed number of calls was compared with the number of calls during a control period without disturbances in the same geographical area. In total about 55, 000 calls to the HCC due to GI symptoms were recorded over the three-year period, 35 per 1000 inhabitants and year, but much higher (>200) for children <3 yrs of age. There was no statistically significant increase in calls due to GI illness during or after disturbances at the water works or in the distribution network. Our results indicate that GI symptoms due to disturbances in water works or the distribution network are rare. The number of serious failures was, however limited, and further studies are needed to be able to assess the risk of GI illness in such cases. The technique of using geocoded HCC data together with geocoded records of disturbances in the drinking water network was feasible.
关于饮用水服务中断与胃肠道（GI）疾病症状之间的关联，相关研究相对较少。有关胃肠道疾病的健康呼叫中心（HCC）数据可能是有用的信息来源。本研究调查了在由于水厂或供水管网中断而导致水质受损风险增加的情况下，HCC 接到胃肠道症状相关咨询的频率是否会增加。该研究在瑞典哥德堡市进行，该市拥有 50 万居民，饮用水源为地表水，设有两个水厂。记录了三年内因 GI 症状（腹泻、呕吐或腹痛）而拨打 HCC 的所有咨询电话，包括性别、年龄和居住地的地理位置。在水厂中断（例如氯剂量短暂停止）的八个期间，在受影响的地理区域内记录了 HCC 的咨询次数；在供水管网大中断（例如泵站故障或有重大影响的主管道破裂）的六个期间，以及三年内的 818 次管道破裂和泄漏修复期间，记录了 HCC 的咨询次数。在每个干扰期间，观察到的呼叫数量与同一地理区域无干扰期间的呼叫数量进行了比较。在三年内，共记录了约 55000 次因 GI 症状拨打 HCC 的电话，每千人中有 35 次，<3 岁的儿童则更高（>200 次）。在水厂或供水管网中断期间或之后，因 GI 疾病而导致的咨询电话没有出现统计学上的显著增加。我们的结果表明，由于水厂或供水管网中断而导致的 GI 症状很少见。但是，严重故障的数量有限，需要进一步的研究才能评估在这种情况下 GI 疾病的风险。使用 HCC 地理编码数据和饮用水网络地理编码干扰记录的技术是可行的。
