{
  "id": 1799393,
  "title": "VIKAND Clinical Data Reinforces Gard Findings on Maritime’s Highest-Cost Crew Health Risk",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/vikand-clinical-data-reinforces-gard-findings-on-maritimes-highest",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-18T21:00:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Hellenic Shipping News",
    "slug": "hellenic-shipping-news",
    "url": "https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/vikand-clinical-data-reinforces-gard-findings-on-maritimes-highest-cost-crew-health-risk/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Cardiovascular disease emerges as a significant crew health risk in the maritime industry, despite accounting for a relatively small portion of onboard medical consultations, according to VIKAND's commercial shipping data. The organization's analysis, based on data from 2024-2026, found that cardiovascular conditions made up around 5% of consultations, while musculoskeletal issues were the most common at approximately 13%. Despite their lower frequency, cardiovascular illnesses accounted for about 10% of all crew disembarkations. VIKAND's data suggests a growing burden of chronic cardiovascular risk factors, particularly among older seafarers, with hypertension being a key modifiable risk factor. Preventing these conditions through proactive chronic disease management, regular blood pressure monitoring, and onboard health initiatives could significantly reduce operational disruption and healthcare costs.",
  "summary": "Cardiovascular disease may account for a relatively small proportion of onboard medical consultations, but serious cases can have a disproportionate clinical and operational impact, according to VIKAND, whose commercial shipping data reinforces findings from the recently published 2026 Gard Crew Claims Report. Gard’s report, based on around 3,000 P&I crew claims, found that illness accounts ...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}