Farming characteristics and self-reported health outcomes of Irish farmers

Background

Irish farmers represent a 'high-risk' group for non-communicable diseases, which, arguably, pose a greater occupational health challenge for farmers. To date, there has been little exploration of the farming characteristics associated with farmers' poor health outcomes.

Aims

To examine the relationship between farming and male farmers' self-reported health outcomes and to compare the study findings to national health studies to explore which factors specifically are associated with Irish farmers' poorer health outcomes relative to the general population.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey research used self-reported quantitative data on the health outcomes and health behaviours of male farmers from the South-East of Ireland. Data were entered into SPSS and descriptive and binary regression techniques were used for data analysis.

Results

There were 314 participants (99% response rate). Age, full-time farming and dairy farming significantly impacted self-reported health outcomes and health behaviours. There was a high prevalence of self-reported arthritis compared with the national average of Irish males. 'Younger' farmers (<45 years) were more likely to engage in harmful health behaviours such as smoking and 'binge-drinking' one or more times per week.

Conclusions

This study identified self-reported patterns of risky lifestyle behaviours among particular subgroups of Irish farmers for whom targeted health interventions are warranted. Interventions are particularly important for younger farmers who may see themselves as invincible and impregnable to ill-health.

The occurrence and genetic characterization of Cryptosporidium and Giardia species in foals in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Greece

Faecal samples were collected from foals between the age of 1 week and 6 months in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Greece. A quantitative direct immunofluorescence assay based on the commercial MERIFLUOR Cryptosporidium/Giardia kit was performed to evaluate the presence of (oo) cysts. Parasite positive samples were genotyped, based on the 18S ribosomal DNA gene and the heat shock protein (HSP70) gene for Cryptosporidium and on the β-giardin gene and the triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene for Giardia. In total, 134 foals from Belgium, 44 foals from The Netherlands, 30 foals from Germany and 190 foals from Greece were examined. No Cryptosporidium oocysts were identified in faecal samples from foals in Germany and The Netherlands. In Belgium and Greece, 4.5% and 1.1% of the foals examined were Cryptosporidium positive, respectively, all with a low oocyst excretion ranging from 100 to 2450 oocysts per gram of faeces. For Giardia, 14.2%, 11.4%, 10.0% and 11.6% of the foals in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Greece, respectively, were found to excrete cysts, with a range of 50 up to 4,000,000 cysts per gram of faeces. Younger animals secreted significantly more Giardia cysts than older horses (p<0.05), but no significant correlation between Giardia infection and diarrhoea was observed. Most Giardia positive samples belonged to assemblage AI and/or BIV, but also assemblage E was detected in two samples. Together with the identification of Cryptosporidium horse genotype, this suggests only a low risk for zoonotic transmission.

Determination of N-nitrosodimethylamine in artificial gastric juice by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and by gas chromatography-thermal energy analysis

The thermal energy analyser (TEA) is considered to be the gold standard for the determination of nitrosamines. However, since many laboratories cannot justify the use of such a very specific detection system, alternative detection methods are useful. While standard gas chromatography (GC) detectors lack the selectivity of the TEA detector, mass spectrometry (MS) seems to be the method of choice to combine GC separation with mass selective detection. Moreover, the detection limits of the GC-MS assay in general use are about 4 times lower than those of the GC-TEA assay. A comparison of GC-MS and GC-TEA data on N-nitrosodimethylamine determinations showed a strong correlation between the two assays (R2 = 0.86), demonstrating the exchangeability of these methods.