a Department of Maritime Medicine , Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine Hamburg (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) , Hamburg , Germany.
Chronobiol Int. 2019 Jul;36(7):1005-1012. doi: 10.1080/07420528.2019.1604540. Epub 2019 May 6.
Seafarers working in maritime settings are affected by a great number of psychosocial stressors. The testing of cortisol in saliva is a well-established method for judging the individual strain. Therefore, this study aims to assess the crews' strain on container ships on the basis of this parameter, taking occupational groups and the three voyage episodes of the vessel into account (stay at port, river passage and sea passage). One scientist accompanied 22 sea voyages and examined 304 crew members who had provided a minimum of 5 saliva samples from at least one day. Altogether, 4,073 saliva samples were collected. An evaluation of stress hormones was conducted by analyzing on the basis of groups and day profiles. The present study revealed that the average concentration of cortisol in the saliva of the examined seafarers was lower during the first hour after waking up than that of a healthy reference population. There were significant differences in the cortisol between nautical officers, deck ratings, and engine room personnel with decreasing levels (p < .001). Furthermore, the highest cortisol level was measured during port stay followed by sea passages and river passages (p = .002). After adjustment, the average level of cortisol in saliva of the whole study group was positively associated with acute shipboard stressors, namely the average current working time (p = .050) and the average number of terminals that had been served during the last 7 days (p = .008). In contrast, no association of saliva cortisol was observed with age (p = .130), smoking status (p = .436), the current stay on board of the vessel (p = .230) or with the subjective stress evoked by noise, vibration, ship motion or psychophysical demands on board. Only the deck ratings and the engine room personnel displayed a continuous decrease in the cortisol level in the daily profile (p < .001). In total, the present study revealed an association of the saliva cortisol level among the examined crew with acute shipboard stressors, the working group, and the ship's voyage episode. A reliable collection of samples over several days on board is well possible through the presence of a specially trained person on site. In maritime studies, this high level of personal effort seems to be inevitable in order to allow a differentiated judgement of the hormone stress reaction of seafarers and meet high quality standards.
海员在航海环境中工作会受到大量的社会心理压力源的影响。唾液中皮质醇的检测是判断个体压力的一种成熟方法。因此，本研究旨在基于这一参数评估集装箱船上船员的压力，同时考虑到职业群体和船舶的三个航行阶段（停泊在港口、内河航行和海上航行）。一位科学家陪同了 22 次航行，并检查了 304 名船员，这些船员至少提供了一天的 5 份唾液样本。总共收集了 4073 份唾液样本。根据小组和日谱图对应激激素进行了评估。本研究表明，与健康对照组相比，被检查的海员在醒来后第一小时内唾液中皮质醇的平均浓度较低。航海人员、甲板人员和机舱人员之间的皮质醇存在显著差异，水平逐渐降低（p<0.001）。此外，在港口停留期间测量到的皮质醇水平最高，其次是海上航行和内河航行（p=0.002）。调整后，整个研究组唾液皮质醇的平均水平与急性船上应激源呈正相关，即平均当前工作时间（p=0.050）和过去 7 天内服务的平均终端数量（p=0.008）。相反，唾液皮质醇与年龄（p=0.130）、吸烟状况（p=0.436）、当前在船停留时间（p=0.230）或船上噪声、振动、船舶运动或心理物理需求引起的主观压力无关。只有甲板人员和机舱人员的皮质醇水平在日常图谱中呈连续下降（p<0.001）。总的来说，本研究显示，所检查的船员的唾液皮质醇水平与船上急性应激源、工作群体和船舶的航行阶段有关。通过现场有专门训练的人员，可以很好地在船上多天收集样本。在航海研究中，为了能够对海员的激素应激反应进行有区别的判断并达到高质量标准，这种高水平的个人努力似乎是不可避免的。
