Self-reported work activities, eye, nose, and throat symptoms, and respiratory health outcomes among an industrial hog operation worker cohort, North Carolina, USA

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Am J Ind Med
• Personal Author:
  Coffman, Vanessa R. ; Hall, Devon J. ; Pisanic, Nora ; Love, David C. ; Nadimpalli, Maya ; McCormack, Meredith ; Diener-West, Marie ; Davis, Meghan F. ; Heaney, Christopher D.
• Description:
  Introduction:
  
  Respiratory disease among industrial hog operation (IHO) workers is well documented; however, it remains unclear whether specific work activities are more harmful and if personal protective equipment (PPE), as used by workers, can reduce adverse health outcomes.
  
  Methods:
  
  IHO workers (n=103) completed baseline and up to eight bi-weekly study visits. Workers reported typical (baseline) and transient (bi-weekly) work activities, PPE use, and physical health symptoms. Baseline and longitudinal associations were assessed using generalized logistic and fixed-effects logistic regression models, respectively.
  
  Results:
  
  At baseline, reports of ever versus never drawing pig blood, applying pesticides, and increasing years worked at any IHO were positively associated with reports of eye, nose, and/or throat irritation. Over time, transient exposures, associated with dustiness in barns, cleaning of barns, and pig contact were associated with increased odds of sneezing, headache, and eye or nose irritation, particularly in the highest categories of exposure. When PPE was used, workers had decreased odds of symptoms interfering with sleep (odds ratio (OR): 0.1; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.01, 0.8), and eye or nose irritation (OR: 0.1; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.9). Similarly, when they washed their hands ≥8 times per shift (the median) versus less frequently, workers had decreased odds of any respiratory symptom (OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1, 0.8).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  In this healthy volunteer worker population, increasingly unfavorable IHO activities were associated with self-reported eye, nose, throat, and respiratory health symptoms. Strong protective associations were seen between PPE use and handwashing and the odds of symptoms, warranting further investigation.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Air Pollutants, Occupational Animal Husbandry Animals Animal Workers Article Eye Diseases Female Hand Disinfection Humans Indoor Air Livestock Male North Carolina Nose Diseases Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Practice Odds Ratio Outcome Assessment, Health Care Personal Protective Equipment Pharyngitis PPE Respiratory Respiratory Tract Diseases Self Report Swine

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• Source:
  Am J Ind Med.
• Pubmed ID:
  33616247
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8046736
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  K01 OH010193/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; K01 OD019918/OD/NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 ES026973/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T32 ES007141/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42OH008428/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:c9121b34129fdf4ef1891ea840f1d91e7c26dc0898bcae3a152070acf339339c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/105280/cdc_105280_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 398.80 KB ]