Association of farming with COPD

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate whether farming is an independent risk factor of Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) subjects and what are risk factors of farmers with COPD in Korea.Method: This cross-sectional study used data from the 2007 Korean Genomic Rural Cohort (KGRC) study. A total of 9,659 subjects underwent spirometry among 10,111 of the KGRC. COPD was defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/ forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio is less than 70%. The study subjects were categorized into those with farming and non-farming occupations by re-classification after determining their occupations using Korea’s Standard Occupation Classification System. Multiple logistic regression analysis were performed to compare various risk factors including metabolic markers and health behaviors of farmers with non-farmers.Result: The prevalence in farmers and non-farmers were 16.7% and 7.2%, respectively. Notably, this study showed that farming is a significant independent risk factor (OR=1.44; 95% CI=1.18-1.75) after adjusting for other potential risk factors such as age, gender, education level, smoking, and body mass index (BMI). In farmers, C-reactive protein and HOMA-insulin resistance (IR) were significant factors compared with non-farmers. Metabolic markers including BMI, visceral fat, and HOMA-IR were significantly low in farmers with COPD compared with non farmers with COPD.Conclusion: These findings indicate that farming is an independent risk factor of COPD and low body weight plays a significant role in developing COPD in farmers with COPD.