Health and Occupational Injury Experienced by Latinx Child Farmworkers in North Carolina, USA

Children as young as 10 years old are hired to work on farms in the United States (U.S.). These children are largely Latinx. Using interview data collected from 202 North Carolina Latinx child farmworkers in 2017, this analysis documents the heath characteristics and occupational injuries of Latinx child farmworkers and delineates characteristics associated with their health and occupational injuries. Latinx child farmworkers include girls (37.6%) and boys (62.4%), aged 10 to 17 years, with 17.8% being migrant farmworkers. Three-quarters reported receiving medical and dental care in the past year. Respiratory (15.8%) and vision (20.3%) problems were prevalent. Girls more than boys, and younger more than older children had greater health service utilization. Occupational injuries were common, with 26.2% reporting a traumatic injury, 44.1% a dermatological injury, 42.6% a musculoskeletal injury, and 45.5% heat-related illness in the past year. Age increased the odds of reporting work injuries and heat-related illness, and being a non-migrant reduced the odds of reporting work injuries. These results emphasize the need for greater documentation of child farmworker occupational health and safety. They underscore the need to change occupational safety policy to ensure that children working in agriculture have the same protections as those working in all other U.S. industries

Workplace, Household, and Personal Predictors of Pesticide Exposure for Farmworkers

In this article we identify factors potentially associated with pesticide exposure among farmworkers, grade the evidence in the peer-reviewed literature for such associations, and propose a minimum set of measures necessary to understand farmworker risk for pesticide exposure. Data sources we reviewed included Medline, Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, PsycINFO, and AGRI-COLA databases. Data extraction was restricted to those articles that reported primary data collection and analysis published in 1990 or later. We read and summarized evidence for pesticide exposure associations. For data synthesis, articles were graded by type of evidence for association of risk factor with pesticide exposure as follows: 1 = association demonstrated in farmworkers; 2 = association demonstrated in nonfarmworker sample; 3 = plausible association proposed for farmworkers; or 4 = association plausible but not published for farmworkers. Of more than 80 studies we identified, only a third used environmental or biomarker evidence to document farmworker exposure to pesticides. Summaries of articles were compiled by level of evidence and presented in tabular form. A minimum list of data to be collected in farmworker pesticide studies was derived from these evidence tables. Despite ongoing concern about pesticide exposure of farmworkers and their families, relatively few studies have tried to test directly the association of behavioral and environmental factors with pesticide exposure in this population. Future studies should attempt to use similar behavioral, environmental, and psychosocial measures to build a body of evidence with which to better understand the risk factors for pesticide exposure among farmworkers

Eye Health and Safety Among Latino Farmworkers

Abstract: Farmworkers face a variety of risk factors for eye injuries. Measures of eye protection use and of eye safety knowledge and beliefs are based on a survey of 300 Latino farmworkers in North Carolina. Few farmworkers report using eye protection (8.3%); most (92.3%) report that employers do not provide eye protection. Approximately 70% report that they are not trained in preventing eye injuries; 81% believe that their chances of getting an eye injury are low. Many farmworkers choose to take risks in order to save time. Interventions are needed that target farmworker knowledge and beliefs about eye safety

Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose in a Multiethnic Population of Rural Older Adults With Diabetes

The purpose of the study was to describe self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) practices of 698 older adults with type 2 diabetes in the rural Southeast, to identify characteristics differentiating testers from nontesters, and to identify personal and support-related predictors of monitoring frequency

Primary and Specialty Medical Care Among Ethnically Diverse, Older Rural Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: The ELDER Diabetes Study

Residents in rural communities in the United States, especially ethnic minority group members, have limited access to primary and specialty health care that is critical for diabetes management. This study examines primary and specialty medical care utilization among a rural, ethnically diverse, older adult population with diabetes