Shipp Eva M, Cooper Sharon P, del Junco Deborah J, Delclos George L, Burau Keith D, Tortolero Susan, Whitworth Ryan E
University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston School of Public Health, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA.
J Agromedicine. 2009;14(1):22-32. doi: 10.1080/10599240802612539.
This study estimated the prevalence of chronic back pain among migrant farmworker family members and identified associated work and non-work variables.
Migrant farmworkers (n = 390 from 267 families) from Starr County, Texas were interviewed in their home once a year for 2 years. The original survey included items measuring demographics, smoking, sleep, farm work, and chronic back pain. For this cross-sectional analysis, multi-level logistic regression was used to identify associated work and other variables associated with chronic back pain while accounting for intraclass correlations due to repeated measures and multiple family members.
The prevalence of chronic back pain during the last migration season ranged from 9.5% among the youngest children to 33.3% among mothers. Variables significantly associated with chronic back pain were age (odds ratio [OR], 1.03, per year increase), depressive symptoms while migrating (OR, 8.72), fewer than 8 hours of sleep at home in Starr County (OR, 2.26), fairly bad/very bad quality of sleep while migrating (OR, 3.25), sorting crops at work (OR, 0.18), and working tree crops (OR, 11.72).
The role of work exposures, depressive symptoms, and sleep in chronic back pain among farmworkers warrants further examination. Refinements in outcome and exposure assessments are also needed given the lack of a standardized case definition and the variety of tasks and crops involved in farm work in the United States.
本研究估计了流动农业工人家庭成员中慢性背痛的患病率，并确定了与之相关的工作和非工作变量。
对来自得克萨斯州斯塔尔县的流动农业工人（267个家庭，共390人）进行为期两年的每年一次的家访。最初的调查包括测量人口统计学、吸烟、睡眠、农业工作和慢性背痛的项目。在本次横断面分析中，采用多水平逻辑回归来确定与慢性背痛相关的工作及其他变量，同时考虑到重复测量和多个家庭成员导致的组内相关性。
在上一个迁移季节，慢性背痛的患病率从最年幼孩子中的9.5%到母亲中的33.3%不等。与慢性背痛显著相关的变量有年龄（优势比[OR]，每年增加1.03）、迁移期间的抑郁症状（OR，8.72）、在斯塔尔县家中睡眠不足8小时（OR，2.26）、迁移期间睡眠质量相当差/非常差（OR，3.25）、工作时分拣作物（OR，0.18）以及从事果树作物工作（OR，11.72）。
工作暴露、抑郁症状和睡眠在农业工人慢性背痛中的作用值得进一步研究。鉴于缺乏标准化的病例定义以及美国农业工作涉及的各种任务和作物，还需要对结果和暴露评估进行改进。
