Farmers are more at risk of illness than any other population group in the State, a report out today will claim.
The assertion is based, among other things, on the results of a range of screening programmes conducted between 2004 and 2005. These included screening programmes conducted by Pfizer at the national ploughing championships and a year-long health study it carried out in conjunction with the IFA.
In 2004 it screened about 300 people at the ploughing championships and those screened had an above average rate of cardiovascular risk factors. Half of them required referral for either raised cholesterol or raised blood pressure.
The following year, 2005, some 1,000 people were screened at the ploughing championships and the same pattern of results was in evidence. "Most worryingly, 8 per cent of those screened in 2005 required same day referral to onsite GPs," the Pfizer Rural and Agricultural Health Index report states.
It adds that a further 428 people were screened as part of a year-long study conducted between 2004 and 2005 in conjunction with the IFA. Some 45 per cent of those screened had raised cholesterol and 29 per cent had raised blood pressure. The report says the annual rate of illness in agriculture is substantially higher than the average rate of illness for all other sectors.
In 2004 there were 63 illness cases per 1,000 agricultural workers compared to 31 illness cases per 1,000 workers in all sectors, it said.
In addition it said fatalities in farm accidents are rising. Some 18 people lost their lives in the agricultural sector last year - only the construction sector had more fatalities.