Investigation and Analysis on the Self-reported Health Status and the State of Seeking Medical Services of Local Residents in a Lead-zinc Mining Area of Xiangxi

Objectives To investigate the health status of local residents in a lead-zinc mining area of Xiangxi in order to analyze the health effect of environmental pollution.

Methods The general situation and health status of residents in the mining area were investigated by interviewing one permanent inhabitant of each household and having the questionnaire filled.

Results The top three disease types of residents in the mining area in recent ten years were osteoarthrosis, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The medical service seeking of local residents was not optimistic, 35.9% of people did not see a doctor while symptoms appeared because of economic reasons.

Conclusions The existence of health risks in local residents in the mining area was caused by heavy metal pollution through diets.The symptoms reported by local residents showed the characteristics of heavy metal pollution.Economic status of local residents and the quality of local medical service are the main factors that affect the residents in the mining area seeking health care services.