Identification of Risk Potentials of Degenerative Diseases Among the Coastal Community in Jember and Banyuwangi District, East Java Province

Abstract

Degenerative disease is a disease caused by tissue/organ deteriorates and loses its functional ability. Coastal community mostly worked as fishermen and fishmonger, that rely heavily on physical strength because of the high workload of outdoor activities. These activities may lead to premature degenerative disease. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to explore the potential risks of degenerative diseases among the coastal community. The survey was carried out from Jember and Banyuwangi District, Indonesia during May-June 2021 on the population of the coastal community. We used cluster random sampling as a sampling technique, resulted 194 respondents. Then it was analyzed descriptively. The results stated that the respondents were on reproductive age and most of them did not have a family history of degenerative diseases. For risk potentials: BMI of 46.9% respondents was normal (18.5-22.9). 87.3% of them had a smoking habit with 10-19 cigarette sticks/day. Majority (40.2%) started smoking at 15-18 years old. Most of them (83%) also were exposed to cigarette smoke. More than half (57.2%) routinely did strenuous activity. Most of them (60.8%) work outside with average sun exposure of >5 hours/day. Most of them consumed seafood (70.1%) and vegetable (60.3%) as daily intake. However, mostly never restricted salt intake for their food/cooking (49.4%) and sometimes still consumed fatty food (59.2%) and meat fat (88.1%). Therefore, their strenuous physical activity, excessive sun exposure, and unhealthy lifestyle can cause degenerative of the organ and tissue that could lead to premature degenerative diseases. This degenerative process if not immediately prevented, it can reduce productivity and have an impact on decreasing fishermen's income.