Table 3 Prevalence (%) and adjusted OR of respiratory symptoms between farmers (and farmer subpopulations) and a general non‐farming Dutch population sample of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey.
| General population (n = 2679), | All farmers (n = 1798) | Conventional farmers (n = 1205) | Organic farmers (n = 593) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | OR (95% CI) | % | OR (95% CI) | % | OR (95% CI) | |
| Cough symptoms | |||||||
| Daily cough | 15.8 | 12.7 | 0.9 (0.8 to 1.1) | 13.1 | 0.9 (0.8 to 1.2) | 11.7 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) |
| Daily cough up phlegm | 9.9 | 8.6 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.1) | 8.5 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.2) | 8.7 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.3) |
| Woken due to cough | 32.0 | 17.1 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) | 17.7 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) | 16.1 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) |
| Shortness of breath, wheezing | |||||||
| Woken due to SOB | 6.3 | 2.4 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.5) | 2.9 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.7) | 1.4 | 0.2 (0.1 to 0.4)* |
| Wheezing | 23.7 | 11.7 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) | 12.3 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) | 10.6 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) |
| Wheezing with SOB | 15.7 | 7.7 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.6) | 8.6 | 0.5 (0.4 to 0.7) | 5.8 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.6)* |
| Wheezing without a cold | 13.0 | 5.5 | 0.4 (0.4 to 0.6) | 5.5 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.6) | 5.3 | 0.4 (0.3 to 0.7) |
| Asthma | |||||||
| Asthma diagnosed by doctor | 4.7 | 5.5 | 1.0 (0.8 to 1.4) | 6.0 | 1.1 (0.8 to 1.6) | 4.4 | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.3) |
| Episode of asthma last year | 1.6 | 1.9 | 1.2 (0.7 to 1.9) | 2.1 | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.2) | 1.5 | 1.0 (0.5 to 2.2) |
| Use of drugs for asthma | 2.5 | 3.3 | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.7) | 3.8 | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.0) | 2.4 | 0.8 (0.5 to 1.6) |
| Asthma (ECRHS) | 7.6 | 4.7 | 0.6 (0.4 to 0.8) | 5.2 | 0.6 (0.5 to 0.9) | 3.9 | 0.5 (0.3 to 0.8) |
ECRHS, European Community Respiratory Health Survey; SOB, shortness of breath.
Data are presented as OR for farmers versus general population with 95% CI, adjusted for age, smoking habits and sex.
*Prevalence of symptoms differs significantly between conventional and organic farmers (p<0.05).