119 SVEIKATOS MOKSLAI / HEALTH SCIENCES ISSN 1392-6373 print / 2335-867X online 2014, 24 tomas, Nr. 6, p. 119-127 doi:10.5200/sm-hs.2014.125 BIOMEDICINA / BIOMEDICINE Žurnalo tinklalapis: http://sm-hs.eu Correspondence to: Lolita Rapolienė, e-mail: lolita.rapoliene@inbox.lt Key words: balneotherapy, geothermal water, seamen health. Summary Study objective: to evaluate the impact of new ori- gin high salinity geothermal water for reinforcing the comprehensive health of seamen and explore the safety proile of water. Methods. 180 seamen were randomized into three groups: geothermal (65) which has got 108 g/l salinity geothermal water bath for 2 weeks daily ive times a week, music group (50) which has received music therapy at home, 65 participants have got no treatment. Outcomes me- asures: systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart and breathing rate, skin temperature, ingertip-loor distance, joint mobility failures, mood scale, VAS pain scale, 5-point Likert‘s well-being scale and co- gnitive failures questionnaire (CFQ). Safety was as- sessed for effects on the cardiopulmonary system and the side effects. The statistical analysis of the data was performed by using the SPSS21 software package. Results: after the 2 weeks in geothermal group re- duced blood pressure, heart and breathing rate (p<0.001); pain (p<0.001), skin temperature (p<0.05), improved spine (p <0.05) and joint mobi- lity (p <0.001), general well-being (p<0.001), mood (p<0.001) and cognitive functions (p=0.001) were observed. In the music therapy group reduced bre- athing rate (p<0.01), pain (p<0.05) and improved general well-being (p<0.01) were observed. Adver- se events were rare in both groups. No signiicant changes were observed in the control group. Conclusions: the balneotherapy using very high sa- linity geothermal waters has multiple health-enhan- cing effects and is safe for seamen. Introduction According to the literature and epidemiological studies seamen are exposed with more risk factors which can affect their quality of life and working capacity. Lack of sleep, poor sleep quality, long working hours, long-term job, work outside of biorhythms, insuficient rest between work periods, excessive workload, noise, heat, vibration, the dif- iculties with movement, dehydration, boring or repetitive work, time and climate zones change, inaccessible medical professionals, irregular sexual life, social exclusion and ot- hers leads to chronic fatigue, poor work performance, de- creased safety, increase in chronic disease and depression risk (1). Wadsworth et al (2008) established links between seamen work characteristics and experiences of fatigue and sickness. There is a positive correlation between fatigues experience and cognitive weakness, psychological distress and general health (2). Each second seaman experience of psycho-emotional strain (3) which affects cardiovascu- lar system and worsens mental condition, it is important to ind cost-effective and eficient means to minimize the risk for seafarers health and restore good health (4). The balneotherapy (lot. balneum – bath + gr. Thera- peia – treatment, nursing) - is one of non-pharmacologic interventions is a medical treatment with mineral waters and it is used for prophylactic purposes. The water the- rapy impacts cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, endocrine, autonomous nervous systems and leads to positive public health. It is safe, easy accessible, renewable non-pharma- cologic approach with potential multidisciplinary beneits that could help to solve many health problems (5). The therapeutic effect of mineral water depends on chemical, thermal and mechanical water properties and the method which is used (6). Different types of mineral water can be used in this therapy (7). Geothermal water is underground water which differs in high temperature because of hot roc- ks heat (8). The higher dissolved solids content is deter- THE BALNEOTHERAPY LINKS WITH SEAFARERS HEALTH IN RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL Lolita Rapolienė¹ ,3 , Artūras Razbadauskas 2,3 , Jonas Sąlyga 2,3 , Sigitas Petrauskas 4 , Arvydas Martinkėnas 3 ¹Seamen Health Care Center, 2 Seamen Hospital, 3 Klaipėda University, 4 UAB Geoterma