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Updated: Mar 31, 2026

Author Spotlight: Efficacy of Auricular Pressure Bean Therapy in Reducing Wheezing Symptoms
Published on: May 10, 2024
Wheezing in tobacco farm workers in southern Brazil
Nadia Spada Fiori1,2, Anaclaudia Gastal Fassa1, Neice Muller Xavier Faria3
1Social Medicine Department, Postgraduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
Background:
Tobacco workers are exposed to several respiratory occupational sensitizers.
Methods:
A representative cross-sectional study was carried out on 2469 tobacco family farming growers. Gender-stratified multivariate analyses evaluated the association between wheezing and socio-demographic, behavioral, and occupational variables.
Results:
Wheezing prevalence was 11.0% with no difference between genders. Among men, age, smoking, strenuous work, pesticide use, contact with vegetable dust and dried tobacco dust, lifting sticks with tobacco leaves to the curing barns, and green tobacco sickness (GTS) were risk factors for wheezing. Among women, family history of asthma, tying hands of tobacco, strenuous work, contact with chemical disinfectants, and GTS were positively associated with wheezing. Harvesting lower tobacco leaves was a protective factor for the outcome in both genders.
Conclusions:
Pesticides, dusts exposure, and GTS were risk factors for wheezing. The synergic effect of these factors needs to be better evaluated to improve prevention.
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