Respirator use among US farm operators with asthma: results from the 2011 farm and ranch safety survey

Details

• Personal Author:
  Casey ML ; Mazurek JM
• Description:
  Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate the national prevalence of respirator use among farm operators with farm work-related asthma and factors associated with respirator use. Methods: The authors examined the 2011 Farm and Ranch Safety Survey, a national survey collected from 11,210 actively farming farm operators in the United States. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPORs) of respirator use were calculated by demographic characteristics, farm characteristics, asthma characteristics and selected exposures and hazards. Results: Among the estimated 2.2 million farm operators in 2011, 35.7% reported using a respirator in the past 12 months. Respirator use was significantly (p<.05) associated with age, marital status, sex, smoking status, farm value of sales, farm type, farm acreage and geographic region. Operators who work with pesticides were 3.5 times more likely to use respirator than those who did not work with pesticides (p<.0001). Among those with current asthma, 60.8% of operators with farm work-related asthma used respirators compared to 44.4% of operators with non-farm work-related asthma (p=.03). Farm operators with farm work-related asthma who had an asthma attack at work were 11.3 times more likely to report respirator use than those who did not have an asthma attack at work (p=.03). Conclusions: Personal protective equipment, including respirators, is an approach to reducing respiratory exposures in agricultural settings, in particular among those with farm work-related asthma. Education for respirator use and evaluation for respirator tolerance should be considered. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Agriculture Asthma Demography Dust Education Farmers Insecticides Men Occupational Health Particulate Matter Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women

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• Keywords:
  Age-groups Agricultural-industry Author Keywords: Farm Operator Bronchial Asthma Demographic Characteristics Dust-exposure Dusts Exposure-levels Hazards Humans Occupational Exposure Particulate-dust Personal Protective Equipment Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Respirator Respirators Risk Factors Statistical-analysis Surveillance Work-related Asthma

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• ISSN:
  1059-924X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  78-88
• Volume:
  22
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049128
• Citation:
  J Agromedicine 2017 Apr; 22(2):78-88
• Contact Point Address:
  Megan L. Casey, RN, BSN, MPH, Surveillance Branch, Respiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Mailstop HG-900, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  ydg7@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Agromedicine
• End Date:
  20131231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bc046bd9adf2985a81dd7ed63a9a47ac686a722ccf54a406941507f6961085526248cee8aa3d18ac0c6a26a60fd1dfa2398f11a9868aacd4a4da3b16688984e1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203689/cdc_203689_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 178.07 KB ]