A Narrative Review of Occupational Air Pollution and Respiratory Health in Farmworkers

Abstract

The agricultural crop sector in the United States depends on migrant, seasonal, and immigrant farmworkers. As an ethnic minority group in the U.S. with little access to health care and a high level of poverty, farmworkers face a combination of adverse living and workplace conditions, such as exposure to high levels of air pollution, that can place them at a higher risk for adverse health outcomes including respiratory infections. This narrative review summarizes peer-reviewed original epidemiology research articles (2000–2020) focused on respirable dust exposures in the workplace and respiratory illnesses among farmworkers. We found studies (n = 12) that assessed both air pollution and respiratory illnesses in farmworkers. Results showed that various air pollutants and respiratory illnesses have been assessed using appropriate methods (e.g., personal filter samplers and spirometry) and a consistent pattern of increased respiratory illness in relation to agricultural dust exposure. There were several gaps in the literature; most notably, no study coupled occupational air exposure and respiratory infection among migrant, seasonal and immigrant farmworkers in the United States. This review provides an important update to the literature regarding recent epidemiological findings on the links between occupational air pollution exposures and respiratory health among vulnerable farmworker populations.

The role of liver enzymes in the association between ozone exposure and diabetes risk: a cross-sectional study of Zhuang adults in China

“…36,38,39 In addition, participants in the present study were more likely to be engaged in outdoor work, with more than 70% of them being farmers or workers, compared to the ndings of Yang et al and Wang et al Farmers and workers were exposed to O 3 pollution for longer periods of time, resulting in more severe adverse health effects. 40,41 In addition, they are frequently exposed to toxic substances such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which may act synergistically with O 3 to promote the development of diabetes through systemic inammation, oxidative stress, and adipose tissue dysregulation. 42,43 This study was not a random sample and therefore was not representative of the Zhuang population; therefore, the differences in effect sizes between the Zhuang population and other populations need to be further validated.…”

Occupational respiratory disorders in Iran: a review of prevalence and inducers

“…More importantly, ORD is considerably affected by pollution severity, physical activity, and exposure period length ( 8 ). Thus, workers exposed to occupational pollutants for longer period of time, are at a higher ORD risk ( 9 ). Ventilation is increased by physical activity and the breathing is shifted from nasal to oral-nasal, thus, air particle filtration through the airways is reduced and the lower airways are more exposed to airborne noxious agents ( 10 ).…”

Influence of COVID-19 on the poultry production and environment

“…There is great attention on the adverse impact of the environment inside poultry house and increase the harmful dust and gaseous and the incidences of asthma, allergy diseases and repository and pulmonary disorders diseased among poultry workers and keepers. In addition, a high prevalence of nasal (51.1%) and asthmatic (42.5%) symptoms were observed in poultry keepers mainly, which may increase the susceptibility of works to Covid-19 (Viegas et al 2013;Arcangeli et al 2020;Clarke et al 2021). Recent evidence indicates high incidences of COVID-19 among patients with chronic diseases and respiratory diseases (Hafez and Attia 2020).…”