Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine Hamburg (ZfAM), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, Germany.
PLoS One. 2019 Jun 4;14(6):e0217904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217904. eCollection 2019.
A sea voyage is characterized by a variety of work requirements for the ship's crew, basically reflected in three voyage episodes: port stay, river passage and sea passage. The primary aim of this study was to compare stress and strain amongst a sample of merchant seafarers across these three voyage episodes.
In a cross-sectional maritime field study, 323 sailors on 22 container ships were biometrically surveyed and completed a questionnaire. In addition, a survey of energy expenditure and heart rate (variability) was carried out in parallel with 236 participants with the SenseWear armband monitor and the RS 800 polar watch.
Port stay and sea passage each accounted for the largest proportion of the ships' journeys, each at around 40%. The study participants rated port stay with 37.8% as the voyage episode with the highest strain, followed by the river passage (24.8%) and then the sea passage (13.0%). The working time during the sea passage was on average shorter than during port stay or the river passage (p<0.001)-as a result, seafarers had more spare time to spend on leisure and sleep. Total energy turnover and, by trend, work energy turnover were notably at the lowest during the sea passage. In particular, the crew had a significantly lower heart rate during the sea passage than during the other two voyage episodes (p = 0.001). Furthermore, there was no difference in the seafarers' heart rate variability between the voyage episodes.
In the present study, it becomes clear that an accumulation of psychophysical stress takes place during port stay and leads to a subjectively and objectively higher strain level. In contrast, seafarers are more likely to recover during the sea passage. This knowledge should be used to offer ships' crews targeted health measures, in particular during the sea passage.
航海的特点是船员的各种工作要求，基本反映在三个航行阶段：港口停留、内河航行和海上航行。本研究的主要目的是比较商船海员在这三个航行阶段的压力和紧张程度。
在一项横断面航海实地研究中，对 22 艘集装箱船上的 323 名海员进行了生物统计学调查，并完成了一份问卷。此外，通过与 236 名参与者使用 SenseWear 臂带监测器和 RS 800 polar 手表进行能量消耗和心率（变异性）的平行调查。
港口停留和海上航行各占船舶航程的最大比例，分别约为 40%。研究参与者将港口停留评为压力最大的航行阶段，得分为 37.8%，其次是内河航行（24.8%），然后是海上航行（13.0%）。海上航行的工作时间平均比港口停留或内河航行短（p<0.001），因此海员有更多的空闲时间用于休闲和睡眠。总能量消耗，以及工作能量消耗，在海上航行时明显最低。特别是，船员在海上航行时的心率明显低于其他两个航行阶段（p=0.001）。此外，在航行阶段之间，海员的心率变异性没有差异。
在本研究中，很明显，在港口停留期间会累积心理生理压力，导致主观和客观上的压力水平更高。相比之下，海员在海上航行期间更容易恢复。这一知识应该被用来为船员提供有针对性的健康措施，特别是在海上航行期间。
