DERMATOLOGICAL MORBIDITIES IN SALT PAN WORKERS IN A METROPOLITAN CITY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Introduction:India is among the three top countries producing salt on large scale.Salt pan workers toil for about seven to eight hours. Working in salt industry exposes the working population to direct contact with inhalable salt dust, salt crystals as well as concentrated brine leading to corrosive effect of salt, physical stress of hard manual labor. Therefore it was thought to study health problems of salt pan workers in Mumbai especially dermatological morbidity. Objectives: 1. To study the socio-demographic profile of salt pan workers. 2. To measure the point prevalence of dermatological morbidities in salt pan workers. 3. To observe the association between duration of salt works and presence of dermatological symptoms. 4. To study the association between use of Personal Protective Equipments and presence of dermatological symptoms. Methods: Study Design:Cross sectional study. Sample size:385 Study subjects:Individual who were working with dry salt (non-brine workers) and those working in a brine plant (Brine workers) were chosen for the study after taking informed consent. Duration of study:18 months, August 2011 to January 2014. Systematic random sampling method was used. Study tools were Interview schedule and Clinical examination.Salt pan workers who worked for more than six months were included.. SPSS version 15.0 was used for data analysis. Results and Conclusion: Overall point prevalence of dermatological symptoms was 12.7% The most common was itching 6.8% followed by burning sensation over limbs 5.2%, dryness of skin 2.3 % and cracks 1.3% over limbs.