Respiratory Disease in Migrant Farmworkers.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Pulmonology
• Agricultural Medicine

Background:

• Respiratory problems are common in agricultural workers.
• Limited research exists on the respiratory status of LatinX farmworkers.
• This study addresses this knowledge gap in New York State.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the respiratory health of LatinX farmworkers in New York State.
• To identify any significant respiratory symptoms or functional impairments.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 162 Spanish OSHA respiratory questionnaires (Jan 2017-Mar 2019).
• Comparison of peak expiratory flow rates (best of three) with predicted normal values (age, gender, height).

Main Results:

• Low prevalence of reported respiratory symptoms (<2%).
• Smoking rate was 11.7%.
• Mean peak expiratory flow was 97.2% ± 16.8% of predicted values.

Conclusions:

• New York LatinX farmworkers exhibit normal respiratory function.
• No evidence of abnormal respiratory symptoms or reduced lung capacity was found in this cohort.