Anatomy of a world cruise

Abstract

Background and Method: We registered the patient-related activities of a large cruise ship's medical center during a 103-day worldwide voyage and compared data from 694 passengers (53% women) with median age 66 years with data from 540 crew (27% women) with median age 30 years of age. Results: The medical staff had 3033 (1537 crew, 1496 passenger) consultations (=206 consultations per week) and performed 982 diagnostic procedures. Skin disorders dominated in the crew and were more frequent than in the passengers (29% versus 13%, p