A Prospective Study of Diseases Associated With Workers in the Printing Industry in a City of Ghana

Background: A lack of information on the overall characteristics of work-related diseases in the printing press industry in Ghana holds back the development of effective disease prevention strategies in the industry. Objective: To identify the commonest disease conditions and factors that influence workers in the printing press industry to visit the hospital. Study design: A prospective descriptive study. Setting: Twenty randomly selected printing press houses in the Kumasi metropolis. Method: Participants were workers of the selected printing houses; they were interviewed in simple and clear English language with pre-tested questionnaires which were administered to them in their respective printing houses. Demographic data, disease conditions and factors for hospital visitation were obtained and recorded from September-December 2010. Results: In total, 200 participants from twenty selected printing houses in the Kumasi metropolis were interviewed using questionnaires. Females and males were 37.0% and 63.0% respectively, with the age ranges from 18 to 65 years. The three commonest disease conditions recorded were allergic dermatitis (58.5%), asthma (13.0%) and hypertension (13.0%). The most prevalent (51.0%) factor for hospital visitation was sustaining of occupational injuries during work whilst injury caused by the printing machinery: moving parts 63 (31.5%) and sharp edges 33 (16.5%) played major roles in injuries. Conclusion: The most common disease condition found after the study was allergic dermatitis whilst superficial injuries were a very high factor for workers to seek for health care.