Effects of respiratory morbidity on occupational activity among farmers

Work-related respiratory diseases are common among farmers. Few studies, however, have dealt with the consequences of respiratory diseases for the lives of the afflicted farmers. To estimate the socioeconomic consequences of respiratory diseases in the farming population, we made a cross-sectional study and a follow-up study. In 1979 farmers with farmer's lung were twice as likely as healthy farmers to plan to reduce their farming work or to stop farming completely. Fifteen percent of the farmers who developed chronic bronchitis during a three-year follow-up had decided to reduce farming work, close down the farm or change the line of production on the farm. The respective rate for healthy farmers was 8%. In 1982, after the follow-up study of new cases of respiratory diseases, the rate of giving up occupational activities was twice as great among individuals with farmer's lung or asthma as in the rest of the farming population. Based on this study, we estimated that of the new cases of respiratory diseases, every tenth will stop farming in the near future, owing to one of the respiratory diseases analyzed. In Finland about 300 farmers per 100,000 and a total of about 600 farmers annually reduce their farming work or stop farming due to respiratory diseases.