An epidemiological study of socio-demographic characteristics and pattern of use of personal protective equipments amongst agricultural workers in rural India

Abstract

Background: India being a country of agriculture, very little attention has been given to the occupational health problems of the agricultural workers; though the need of investigation and intervention towards their problems has repeatedly been mentioned. The objectives of the study were to find out the socio-demographic distribution of agricultural health hazards, to find out the personal protective measures being used by the agricultural workers and to give the necessary recommendations for the prevention of health hazards.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted from September 2009 to December 2011. A pilot study was conducted on 50 patients. Data collection was done through asking questionnaire from the patients/relatives. Data was analyzed in the form of percentage (%) and presented in the tabular form. Chi- square (χ2) test was applied as a test of significance.Results: Out of total 926 cases maximum number of patients were males (549, 59.29%), followed by females (377, 40.71%). Majority of the respondents were primary educated (31.87%) followed by illiterate (29.48%). majority (44.60%) of the respondents belong to Class-IV (lower) socioeconomic status. Males (53.35%) were more addicted than females (10.26%). It was revealed that maximum number of the cases was not using (85.53%) PPE and only 14.47% were using any kind of PPE.Conclusions: Out of the total 926 cases, 549 (59.29%) were males, followed by females (377, 40.71%). Majority (63.61%) of the respondents have some kind of addiction. It was revealed that maximum number of the cases were not using (83.02%) any kind of PPE.