Almost two-thirds of farmers who participated in research on respiratory disease reported one or more chronic respiratory symptom, even though the majority of participants do not smoke.
The study by Galway University Hospital/Saolta University Health Care Group researchers, which has been published in the Respiratory Medicine journal says that further research is required into the causes of these health difficulties.
Less than one per cent of the participants in the study reported having had farmers’ lung, which is one of the three main causes of respiratory illness in agriculture and had been common in Ireland.
The cross-sectional study of over 400 farmers took place at the 2013 national ploughing championships, and involved a questionnaire and lung function tests.
University Hospital Galway consultant respiratory physician Prof Anthony O’Regan said the aim was to determine the prevalence of respiratory disease among farmers,in the first such study of its kind.
“Remarkably”, almost two-thirds reported one or more chronic symptom, Prof O’Regan noted.
Although 91 per cent of the participants did not smoke, 13 per cent had a pre-existing diagnosis of obstructive lung disease and 12 per cent demonstrated “abnormal lung function”, he said.
“Unlike non-farming populations, obstruction on lung function testing was not associated with smoking but rather appeared to occur in those patients with symptoms or a prior diagnosis of asthma or hay-fever,”he said.
The investigators also found that 89 per cent of farming participants were overweight, with average body mass index of 29 kg/m2.
The average age of those surveyed was 55 years, and the majority were male.
