Rates and occupational characteristics of international seafarers with mental illness

BACKGROUND: Seafarers enable 90% of global commerce, working in isolation from social support and medical care. While occupational conditions of isolation may suggest possible excess risk of mental illness and suicide, research on seafarer mental illness is limited. AIMS: To describe seafarers with mental illness and associated incidence rates in a large population of international seafarers. METHODS: We used mental illness claims data from a large international marine insurance provider arising from working seafarers during the years 2007-15. We used descriptive statistics and calculated mental illness incidence rates in this seafarer population. RESULTS: There were 278 seafarer mental illness claims in the study data. Claims were more often reported in deck workers (46%) and ratings (58%). The crude mental illness rate was 3.9 per 100 000 person-years. CONCLUSIONS: Using objective data on a large seafaring population, our analysis highlights the important issue of mental illness in this isolated and underserved international workforce. The low observed mental illness claims rate is likely due to the high threshold for claims reporting.