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Respiratory morbidity in relationship to farm characteristics in swine confinement work: Possible preventive measures

1996; Wiley; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199608)30

1097-0274

P.F.J. Vogelzang, Joost W. J. van der Gulden, Liesbeth Preller, Dick Heederik, M.J.M. Tielen, Constant P. van Schayck,

Effects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock

Swine confinement farming is associated with an increased risk of respircitofy morbidity.Adverse health effects have been shown in association with levels of dust, endotoxins, and ammonia.This study was conducted to evaluate characteristics of confinement fanns asso ciated with respiratory morbidity in order to establish priorities for preventive measures.A questionnaire on symptoms and farm characteristics was completed by 1,432 male swine confinement farmers.Of these, 200 with and 200 without chronic respirator symptoms were randomly selected for lung function testing.A significantly increased risk for chronic res piratory symptoms was shown if fanners used wood-shavings as bedding (prevalent odds ratio [POR] 2.2), used disinfectants (POR 1.7), used natural ventilation (POR 2.6), had floor types other than slatted or half slatted ( POR 2.1 ), or used a mechanical feeding system ( POR 1.4), Lung function (FEV}) was significantly lower with increasing numbers of years worked (51 ml/10 years), with smaller numbers of pigs (8.5 ml/100 pigs), and when the air outlet of the ventilation system was via the pit (248 mlj.To decrease the risk of respiratoiy morbidity the following preventive measures are proposed: discouragement of the use of disinfectants and of wood-shavings as bedding, and promotion of the use of mechanical ventilation systems.