Lung Function and Respiratory Symptoms in Male Palestinian Farmers

ABSTRACT

In a cross-sectional study of 250 farmers aged 22 to 77 years, of whom 36.4% are smokers, the authors aimed at describing lung function and respiratory symptoms and to estimate associations with exposures to pesticides and dust. Lung function was measured using a spirometer. Respiratory symptoms and exposure levels were self-reported based on a modified standardized questionnaire. Mean forced vital capacity (FVC) was 4.20 L (SD = 0.93 L), 95.51% of predicted as compared to European standards. Mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) was 3.28 L (SD = 0.80 L), 91.05% of predicted. The authors found high symptom prevalences: 14.0% for chronic cough; 26.4% for wheeze; and 55.2% for breathlessness. There was no clear association between exposure to pesticides or dust and lung function or between such exposures and respiratory symptoms. However, a significant association was found between smoking and respiratory symptoms such as chronic cough, cough with phlegm, and wheezes. The lack of farm exposure associations could be due to improvement in farmers’ awareness to pesticides hazards as well as regulations of pesticide import, or because of inherent problems with the experimental design. Farmers who kept animals and poultry seem to have less respiratory symptoms and better lung function.

KEYWORDS:

• farm exposures
• lung function
• Palestine
• reference values
• respiratory symptoms

Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Norwegian State Education Loan Funds and The Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU) PRO 50/2002.

The authors thank Riziq-Al Sabarna, Nissren Al Titi, and Naseem Talhami for the help in conducting the data collection.

Notes

*One dunum = 1000 m².

**unit = 1 kg or 1 L.

***PPE = personal protective equipment.

*One dunum = 1000 m².

**Spraying pesticides during this month (September 2006).

***PPE = personal protective equipment.

*Adjusted for all exposure and background factors in the table.

**One dunum = 1000 m².

***Spraying pesticides during this month (September 2006).

****PPE = personal protective equipment.

*Prevalence ratio (PR) adjusted for exposure and background factors in the table, age, and BMI.