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Purpose: Respiratory hazards of farming have been identified for centuries, with little focus on gender differences. We used data from the AGRICOH consortium, a collective of prospective cohorts of agricultural workers, to assess respiratory disease prevalence among adults in 18 cohorts representing over 200,000 farmers, farm workers, and their spouses from six continents. Methods: Cohorts collected data between 1992 and 2016 and ranged in size from 200 to >128,000 individuals; 44% of participants were female. Farming practices varied from subsistence farming to large-scale industrial agriculture. All cohorts provided respiratory outcome information for their cohort based on their study definitions. The majority of outcomes were based on self-report using standard respiratory questionnaires; the greatest variability in assessment methods was associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Results: For all three respiratory symptoms (cough, phlegm, and wheeze), the median prevalence in men was higher than in women, with the greatest difference for phlegm (17% vs. 10%). For asthma, women had a higher prevalence (7.8% vs 6.5%), with the difference associated with allergic asthma. The relative proportion of allergic asthma varied among cohorts. In two of eight cohorts for women and two of seven cohorts for men, allergic asthma was more common than non-allergic asthma. Conclusions: These findings indicate that respiratory outcomes are common among farmers around the world despite differences in agricultural production. As women in the general population are at higher risk of asthma, exploring gender differences in occupational studies is critical for a deeper understanding of respiratory disease among agricultural workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that respiratory symptoms, including chronic cough, chronic phlegm, shortness of breath, and wheeze, are important markers that contribute to hospitalization, lung function decline, and other respiratory illness. This report aims to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and associated environmental risk factors in farming and nonfarming rural-dwelling people. A baseline mail-out questionnaire to assess respiratory health outcomes as well as individual and contextual determinants in farm and small town cohorts was sent to 11,004 households within four geographical regions of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 2010. Completed questionnaires were received from 4624 households (8261 individuals). Outcome variables examined for this report were chronic cough, chronic phlegm, shortness of breath, and ever wheeze. Clustering effect within households was adjusted using generalized estimating equations. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was chronic cough, 9.2% (farm vs. nonfarm: 8.1% vs. 10.0%); chronic phlegm, 8.2% (farm vs. nonfarm: 6.7% vs. 9.3%); shortness of breath, 29.1% (farm vs. nonfarm: 25.5% vs. 31.6%); and ever wheeze, 40.6% (farm vs. nonfarm: 38.1% vs. 42.5%). There was a significantly higher prevalence of each respiratory symptomin the nonfarming population compared with the farming population (P< .01). Respiratory symptoms were positively associated with smoking, allergic reaction to inhaled allergens, and other environmental factors for farming and nonfarming populations. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was higher in the nonfarming rural population compared with the farming rural population. Environmental exposures such as work-related or home environment play an important role in the increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms in farming and nonfarming populations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]