Prevalence and risk factors of asthma in dairy farmers: Ancillary analysis of AIRBAg
Stéphane Jouneau, Anthony Chapron, Cécile Ropars, Solenne Marette, Ange-Marie Robert, Thomas Gouyet, Chantal Belleguic, Cécile Rochefort-Morel, Stéphanie Guillot, Carole Mailloux, Benoît Desrues, Jean-François Viel, AIRBAg research group, Jean Barakat, Anne-Laure Barel, Henri-Pierre Baron, Rachel Bassen, Florence Behaghel-Baruteau, Cyril Bernier, Séverine Beyer, Romain Boissel, Vanessa Brault, Graziella Brinchault, Dominique Bureau, Odile Castel, Anne-France Cazuguel, Anthony Chapron, Catherine Decelle-Trochet, Benoît Desrues, Marcel Delaunay, Isabelle Delaunay-Lelièvre, Bruno Eveno, Krisztina Fekete, Lisa Fourmont, Thomas Gouyet, Amandine Guervin, Stéphanie Guillot, Tiphaine Guy, Guillaume Héry, Pauline Hardouin, Anne Hespel, Nathalie Jeffray, Stéphane Jouneau, Yves Koskas, Virginie de Lauzun, Antoine Lebossé, Sandrine Lecot, Carole Mailloux, Solenne Marette, David Marquette, Virginie Martin, Ahmed Merzoug, Hugues Morel, Jean Morer, Patrick Morisseau, Aurélie Oksenhendler, Elisabeth Orhant, Dominique Peron, Mauricette Piguel-Royer, Marie Pinault, Jean-Paul Pousset, Jean-Claude Presle, Patrick Raillard, Bernard Regnault, Ange-Marie Robert, Antoine Séguineau, Anne Sevin, Fanny Thépault, Christian Verger, Jean-François Viel, Stéphane Jouneau, Anthony Chapron, Cécile Ropars, Solenne Marette, Ange-Marie Robert, Thomas Gouyet, Chantal Belleguic, Cécile Rochefort-Morel, Stéphanie Guillot, Carole Mailloux, Benoît Desrues, Jean-François Viel, AIRBAg research group, Jean Barakat, Anne-Laure Barel, Henri-Pierre Baron, Rachel Bassen, Florence Behaghel-Baruteau, Cyril Bernier, Séverine Beyer, Romain Boissel, Vanessa Brault, Graziella Brinchault, Dominique Bureau, Odile Castel, Anne-France Cazuguel, Anthony Chapron, Catherine Decelle-Trochet, Benoît Desrues, Marcel Delaunay, Isabelle Delaunay-Lelièvre, Bruno Eveno, Krisztina Fekete, Lisa Fourmont, Thomas Gouyet, Amandine Guervin, Stéphanie Guillot, Tiphaine Guy, Guillaume Héry, Pauline Hardouin, Anne Hespel, Nathalie Jeffray, Stéphane Jouneau, Yves Koskas, Virginie de Lauzun, Antoine Lebossé, Sandrine Lecot, Carole Mailloux, Solenne Marette, David Marquette, Virginie Martin, Ahmed Merzoug, Hugues Morel, Jean Morer, Patrick Morisseau, Aurélie Oksenhendler, Elisabeth Orhant, Dominique Peron, Mauricette Piguel-Royer, Marie Pinault, Jean-Paul Pousset, Jean-Claude Presle, Patrick Raillard, Bernard Regnault, Ange-Marie Robert, Antoine Séguineau, Anne Sevin, Fanny Thépault, Christian Verger, Jean-François Viel
Abstract
Background: Prolonged occupational agricultural exposure is associated with an increase in asthma diagnosis. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and risk factors for asthma in dairy farmers.
Methods: AIRBAg was a cross-sectional study including 1203 representative dairy farmers. They completed a self-administered questionnaire and underwent a health respiratory check-up. Referral to a pulmonologist was made for any participant with wheezing, dyspnoea, chronic bronchitis, a chronic cough or a FEV1/FEV6 ratio<80%. They underwent further examinations such as spirometry with a reversibility test. Controls (non-asthmatic dairy farmers and non-farm employees) were matched to each asthma case for sex and age (±5 years). The odds ratios (OR) between asthma and different risk factors were estimated using conditional multivariate logistic regression models.
Results: Active asthma was diagnosed in 107 (8.9%) farmers. Compared with control dairy farmers, there was a positive association with family history of allergy (OR = 8.68; 95% CI [4.26-17.69]), personal history of eczema (OR = 3.39; 95% CI [1.61-7.13]), hay manipulation (OR = 5.36, 95% CI [1.59-18.01]), and a negative association with farm area (OR = 0.92; 95% CI [0.85-0.99]) and handling treated seeds (OR = 0.47; 95% CI [0.23-0.95]). Compared with control non-farm employees, there was a positive association between asthma and family history of allergy (OR = 95.82, 95% CI [12.55-731.47]).
Conclusions: The prevalence of active asthma in dairy farmers was somewhat higher than the rate observed in the general population but may be controlled by reducing exposure to airborne organic contaminants through occupational adaptions on farms.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03654469.
Keywords: Allergy; Asthma; Bronchial obstruction; Chronic respiratory disease; Wheezing.
Conflict of interest statement
Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Prof Jouneau declares a conflict of interest with the Brittany Association for Respiratory Failure (AIRB): fees, funding or reimbursement for national and international conferences, boards, expert or opinion groups and research projects over the past 5 years. All the other authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Source: PubMed