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

Dr. Pallavisureshshelke, Dr. Jaya Madhukar Tale and Dr. Sachinjanraochavan 1. Assoc. Prof., Community Medicine,L.T.M.Medical College & General Hospital,Sion, Mumbai-400022. 2. Asst. Prof.Department of Community Medicine,Terna Medical College,Nerul, Navi Mumbai. 3. Medical Officer PHC, Chulhad,TalukaTumsar, DistrictBhandara. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 20 October 2020 Final Accepted: 24 November 2020 Published: December 2020

Workers who work with dry salt in the vicinity of salt milling plants are defined as Non-brine workers and those working in brine plans located far away from milling plants were defined as Brine workers [2] .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.

Rationale of the study:
Saltpan workers at the risk of dermatological symptoms like itching, ulceration, thickness of skin, cracks in skin, burning sensation in skin,etc.Therefore it was thought to study dermatological problems of salt pan workers in Mumbai.

Objectives:-
To study the socio-demographic profile of salt pan workers. 1. To measure the point prevalence of dermatological morbidities in salt pan workers. 2. To observe the association between duration of salt works and presence of dermal symptoms. 3. To study the association between use of Personal Protective Equipmentand presence of dermatological symptoms. where anticipated population proportion (p) =60.7, at 95% confidence level, and d=5 percentage points.'Individual Saltpan worker' was the study unit. Study subjects were selected using Systematic random sampling method.

Inclusion criteria:
Salt pan workers working for more than 6months period.

Exclusion criteria:
Salt pan workers who did not give consent to participate in thestudy.
Pretested semi-structured interview schedule was used for personal interview method and Clinical examination. Referral to dermatologist was made whenever necessary for confirmatory diagnosis Statistical analysis of the data was done using Proportion and Chi square test, to observe the association between duration of salt works ,use of PPE and presence of dermal symptoms.
Institutional Ethics committee approval was obtained prior to the study.  The association between dermatological symptoms and duration of job was statistically significant [

Discussion:-
In the present study all salt workers were male. Nearly half of them were illiterate. Similar to these findings Raman Sachdev [4].reported that nearly half of the salt workers was literate. Most of them were belonging to socioeconomic class IV.Majority had worked for nearly 6 years and were addicted mainly to smokeless tobacco.Findings of Kripa 569 Ram Haldiya [3].MurliLalMathur [5] were compatable as they also found smokeless tobacco as the main addiction among salt workers.Use of Personal protective equipments was not regular.In the present study overall percent prevalence of dermatological symptom was 12.7 percent. The percent prevalence of dermatological symptoms in brine workers were 42 (13 percent) more than that of non-brine worker 7 (11.3 percent). In contrast K R Haldiya [7].reported that percent prevalence of dermatological symptom among male salt worker and female salt worker was 28.4 percent and 17.8 percent respectively. Raman Sachdev [4].found that overall percent prevalence of dermatological symptoms among salt worker was 43.8 percent such as itching (8.9 percent), ulceration (9.5 percent), thickness of skin (8.1 percent), cracks in skin (6.5 percent), burning sensation in skin (4.8 percent) and dryness of skin over limbs (3.5 percent). R. Somraj [6]similarly found that percent prevalence of dermatological symptoms among salt workers was 18.36 percent. G. Arumugasamy [8] in Kanyakumari district observed that 8.89 percent salt workers were affected by itchsores.

Conclusion:-
1. In the present study most of the salt pan workers were mainly from younger age group, Hindu by religion, staying in nuclear families, more than one third of them were migrated and belonged lower middle socioeconomic class with almost half of the milliterate. 2. Nearly half of the salt workers had work for less than five years and more than one fifth of the salt workers had work for six to ten years. More than one third of the salt workers had only smokeless tobacco addiction. 3. Though personal protective equipments were available at the work place only one fifth of the salt worker use goggles, shoes and cap as a protection from reflection of salt crystal by sunlight for eyes and skin. 4. As the duration of work increases most of the salt workers suffered from more than one dermatological morbidity.