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DOES CONTACT WITH SAND AT BEACHES INCREASE THE RISK OF ILLNESS?
Citation:
HEANEY, C. D., T. J. WADE, E. A. SAMS, R. L. CALDERON, K. P. BRENNER, M. BEACH, AND A. P. DUFOUR. DOES CONTACT WITH SAND AT BEACHES INCREASE THE RISK OF ILLNESS? Presented at Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER), Boston, MA, June 20 - 23, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
research results
Description:
Recent studies found high levels ofE. coli in sand, causing concern and media reports about risks of illness from contact with sand during beach recreation. We summarized associations between beach sand exposure and gastrointestinal (GI), respiratory, eye, ear, cut and urinary tract infection, and rash from a prospective cohort study. We collected self-reports ofbeach activities and illness from 21,015 participants during 2 swim seasons at 4 Great Lakes beaches. Participants were asked if they dug in sand or built sand castles, if they buried their body in sand, or if they played with algae or seaweed? We compared the incidence of illness among those exposed and unexposed to sand using unconditional logistic regression, adjusting for potential confounders. Of all participants, 43% (8975) reported digging in sand and 10.6% (2172) reported being buried in sand. As expected, there was a strong association between sand exposure and age. Among children (0-10 yrs,) 83% and 27% reported digging in sand and being buried in sand, respectively; compared to 27% and 3% ofadults (35 yrs. and above), respectively. After adjusting for age, swimming, sex, and beach, there was little relationship between digging in sand and the illnesses studied. However among those buried in the sand, there was an elevated association with GI (OR=1.20; 95%CI l.01¬1.41). In all cases, swimming status was more strongly related to illness than sand exposure. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study ofthe relationship between beach sand exposure and illness.