SITUATIONS OF WORK– RELATED DISEASES AMONG CROPS FARMERS IN NONGBUALUMPHU PROVINCE

Abstract

          This research was a retrospective cohort study with the aim to investigate the incidence and mortality rate of six groups of work-related diseases among crops farmers in Nongbualamphu Province. Subjects were 30,550 crop farmers registered to the Office of Agriculture and Cooperatives Nongbualamphu province between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2016. Health data set from Nongbualamphu Provincial Health Office was used to describe the incidence rate of work-related diseases in each type of diseases at the 95% confidence interval (95%CI). The results showed that there were 25,523 crop farmers registered for health care services. The ratio of male-to-female was 0.4 : 0.6 with an average age of 45.02 years old (SD=9.92, min = 31, max = 64). Work-related musculoskeletal disorders had the highest incidence in the past 5 years among all 6 types of diseases, the incidence was 39.18% (95%CI: 38.62-39.74) The following incidence of diseases were the diseases caused by physical hazards (20.50%; 95%CI: 20.03-20.96), skin diseases (6.22%; 95%CI: 5.95-6.50), lung diseases and respiratory system (4.05%; 95%CI: 3.82-4.27), infectious diseases included plants and animals poisoning (3.52%; 95%CI: 3.31-3.73), pesticide poisoning (0.37%; 95% CI: 0.30-0.44). The mortality rate was found highest from lung diseases and respiratory system. Moreover, the incidence rate of diseases was shown to be rapidly increased in the next 5 years. The suggestion is that there should be promotions of safety awareness and continuing report of work-related diseases from the health care service system. Safety trainings and occupational health service to crop farmers are necessary to reduce work-related diseases and mortality rate caused by occupational hazards among crop farmers.