ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Heat Illness Among North Carolina Latino Farmworkers

Arcury, Thomas A.; Summers, Phillip; Talton, Jennifer W.; Chen, Haiying; Sandberg, Joanne C.; Spears Johnson, Chaya R.; Quandt, Sara A.

Author Information

Department of Family and Community Medicine (Dr Arcury, Mr Summers, Dr Sandberg, Dr Spears Johnson); Center for Worker Health (Dr Arcury, Mr Summers, Dr Chen, Dr Sandberg, Dr Spears Johnson, Dr Quandt); Division of Public Health Sciences (Ms Talton, Dr Chen), Department of Biostatistical Sciences; Division of Public Health Sciences (Dr Quandt), Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Address correspondence to: Thomas A. Arcury, PhD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1084 ([email protected]).

This research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01-ES008739). The sponsor had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

The authors Arcury, Summers, Talton, Chen, Sandberg, Spears Johnson, and Quandt report no conflicts of interests.

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 57(12):p 1299-1304, December 2015. | DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000000552

Abstract

Objective:

Heat exposure is an important hazard for workers in manual occupations, including farmworkers. This analysis delineates the prevalence of heat illness among farmworkers, and the factors associated with heat illness.

Methods:

North Carolina Latino male farmworkers completed interviews in August, 2013. They reported on heat exposure and behaviors over the previous 3 months while working both outdoors and indoors.

Results:

A third (35.6%) of the participants reported heat illness while working outside, and 13.9% while working inside. Factors associated with heat illness while working outside included working in wet clothes and shoes, harvesting and topping tobacco, and spending after-work time in an extremely hot house.