Gender differences in respiratory health outcomes among farming cohorts around the globe: findings from the AGRICOH consortium

Jonathan Fix (1) , Isabella Annesi‐maesano (2) , Isabelle Baldi (3) , Mathilde Boulanger (3) , Soo Cheng (4) , Sandra Cortes (5, 6) , Jean-Charles Dalphin (7, 8) , Mohamed Aqiel Dalvie (9) , Bruno Degano (10, 9) , Jeroen Douwes (4) , Wijnand Eduard (11) , Grethe Elholm (12) , Catterina Ferreccio (13, 6) , Anne-Helen Harding (14) , Mohamed Jeebhay (9) , Kevin M Kelly (15) , Hans Kromhout (16) , Ewan Macfarlane (17) , Cara Nichole Maesano (2) , Diane Catherine Mitchell (18) , Hussein Mwanga (9) , Saloshni Naidoo (19) , Beyene Negatu (16, 20) , Dorothy Ngajilo (9) , Karl-Christian Nordby (11) , Christine G Parks (21) , Marc B Shenker (18) , Aesun Shin (22) , Torben Sigsgaard (12) , Malcolm Sim (23) , Thibaud Soumagne (7, 8) , Peter Thorne (15) , Keun-Young Yoo (22) , Jane A Hoppin (24)

1 Department of Epidemiology, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
2 EPAR - Epidemiology of Allergic and Respiratory Diseases Department [iPlesp]
3 ANTICIPE - Unité de recherche interdisciplinaire pour la prévention et le traitement des cancers
4 Massey University
5 Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases, ACCDis [Santiago, Chile]
6 UC - Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
7 Service de Pneumologie, oncologie thoracique et allergologie respiratoire [CHRU Besançon]
8 LCE - Laboratoire Chrono-environnement (UMR 6249)
9 University of Cape Town
10 PCVP / CARDIO - Marqueurs pronostiques et facteurs de régulations des pathologies cardiaques et vasculaires - UFC ( UR 3920)
11 STAMI - National Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI)
12 Danish Ramazzini Centre - Department of Public Health [Copenhagen, Denmark]
13 School of Medicine, Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS) and Department of Public Health / Faculty of Mathematics, Department of Statistics
14 HSE - Health and Safety Executive Science and Research Centre
15 University of Iowa [Iowa City]
16 University Medical Center [Utrecht]
17 Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences - Monash university [Victoria]
18 UC Davis - University of California [Davis]
19 UKZN - University of KwaZulu-Natal [Durban, Afrique du Sud]
20 Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources
21 NIH - National Institutes of Health [Bethesda, MD, USA]
22 Seoul National University Hospital
23 Monash University [Melbourne]
24 NC State - North Carolina State University [Raleigh]

Purpose: Respiratory hazards of farming have been identified for centuries, with little focus on gender differences. We used data from the AGRICOH consortium, a collective of prospective cohorts of agricultural workers, to assess respiratory disease prevalence among adults in 18 cohorts representing over 200,000 farmers, farm workers, and their spouses from six continents.Methods: Cohorts collected data between 1992 and 2016 and ranged in size from 200 to >128,000 individuals; 44% of participants were female. Farming practices varied from subsistence farming to large-scale industrial agriculture. All cohorts provided respiratory outcome information for their cohort based on their study definitions. The majority of outcomes were based on self-report using standard respiratory questionnaires; the greatest variability in assessment methods was associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Results: For all three respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, and wheeze), the median prevalence in men was higher than in women, with the greatest difference for phlegm (17% vs. 10%). For asthma, women had a higher prevalence (7.8% vs 6.5%), with the difference associated with allergic asthma. The relative proportion of allergic asthma varied among cohorts. In two of eight cohorts for women and two of seven cohorts for men, allergic asthma was more common than non-allergic asthma.Conclusions: These findings indicate that respiratory outcomes are common among farmers around the world despite differences in agricultural production. As women in the general population are at higher risk of asthma, exploring gender differences in occupational studies is critical for a deeper understanding of respiratory disease among agricultural workers.

Mots clés: Farmers; Farmworkers; Gender; Occupational Exposure; Respiratory Health

Domaines: Santé; Pneumologie et système respiratoire

Jonathan Fix, Isabella Annesi‐maesano, Isabelle Baldi, Mathilde Boulanger, Soo Cheng, et al.. Gender differences in respiratory health outcomes among farming cohorts around the globe: findings from the AGRICOH consortium. Journal of Agromedicine, 2021, 26 (2), pp.97-108. ⟨10.1080/1059924X.2020.1713274⟩. ⟨hal-03674626⟩