Lavery Amy, Backer Lorraine, Daniel Johnni
National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
J Environ Health. 2021 May;839:8-14.
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are the rapid growth of algae that can produce toxic or harmful effects in people and animals. Potential health effects include respiratory illness, gastrointestinal illness, skin and eye irritation, and sometimes more severe toxic effects such as liver damage. Defining HAB exposure and related illness is challenging for many reasons, including characterizing the exposure. Large electronic health record databases present an opportunity to study health encounters specifically related to HAB exposure through querying medical diagnostic codes. We queried the MarketScan Research Databases between January 2009 and April 2019 for use of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for HAB exposure. We found a total of 558 records that used either the ICD-9 or ICD-10 code for HAB exposure. Respiratory illness was most commonly reported along with the HAB exposure code. Use of HAB exposure codes showed seasonal fluctuations during 2012-2019. We found that although the HAB-related ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes were used infrequently, they were most often recorded during bloom seasons in warmer months. This analysis is the first that utilizes a large-scale national database of de-identified health records to understand the use of medical diagnostic codes related to algae exposure.
有害藻华（HABs）是指藻类的快速生长，这些藻类会对人和动物产生有毒或有害影响。潜在的健康影响包括呼吸系统疾病、胃肠道疾病、皮肤和眼睛刺激，有时还会产生更严重的毒性作用，如肝损伤。由于多种原因，包括对暴露情况的特征描述，确定有害藻华暴露及相关疾病具有挑战性。大型电子健康记录数据库提供了一个机会，通过查询医疗诊断代码来研究与有害藻华暴露具体相关的健康情况。我们在2009年1月至2019年4月期间查询了MarketScan研究数据库，以获取使用国际疾病分类（ICD）代码记录的有害藻华暴露情况。我们共发现了558条使用ICD - 9或ICD - 10代码记录有害藻华暴露情况的记录。呼吸系统疾病是与有害藻华暴露代码一同报告最多的疾病。2012 - 2019年期间，有害藻华暴露代码的使用呈现季节性波动。我们发现，虽然与有害藻华相关的ICD - 9和ICD - 10代码使用频率不高，但它们最常出现在温暖月份的藻华季节。这项分析是首次利用大规模全国性的去识别化健康记录数据库来了解与藻类暴露相关的医疗诊断代码的使用情况。
