Mortality among retired offshore divers in Norway

Health effects of diving have been observed in divers who have not experienced any diving related accidents. The aim of the study was to study total, and cause specific mortality, in Norwegian retired professional offshore divers.

We carried out a mortality follow-up from 1997 to 2013 in a group of men, born 1930-1973. The diving cohort consisted of 386 male professional divers diving in the North Sea in the pioneer period from 1965 to 1990, of which 25 were dead. 1,467,769 Norwegian males were used as referents. This population was linked to the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry.

Twenty five (6.5%) professional offshore divers had died. No differences were observed between divers and referents for overall mortality or for non-violent deaths, adjusted for year of birth.

In this cohort of retired North Sea divers, the mortality pattern did not differ from that of the expected mortality.