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Updated: Jun 24, 2026
Conducting Respiratory Oscillometry in an Outpatient Setting
Published on: April 8, 2022
Respiratory symptom reporting error in occupational surveillance of older farmers
Nancy E Johnson1, Steven R Browning, Susan M Westneat
1College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. nejohn2@uky.edu
Objective:
Agricultural health studies often use respiratory symptom report as a surrogate measure of disease and exposure; little data exists on the accuracy of symptom report in a work-motivated population.
Methods:
Screening spirometry and telephone survey data for Kentucky male farmers >55 year (n = 134) in the NIOSH Farm Family Health and Hazard Surveillance Project were compared to investigate the accuracy of symptom report as a measure of respiratory disease risk in older farmers.
Results:
The prevalence of reported obstructive respiratory symptoms was 0.24 (95% CI = 0.17 to 0.31); objective measures increased prevalence to 0.35 (95% CI = 0.27 to 0.43). Customary symptom questions did not reliably reflect objective indicators of respiratory impairment.
Conclusions:
Older farmers may not accurately report respiratory symptoms. Whether by intention or misinterpretation of physical cues, self-reporting errors in this population may introduce misclassification bias.
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