Assessing Heat-Related Morbidity among Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers

评估移民和季节性农场工人中与高温相关的发病率

• 批准号: 9164863
• 负责人: Kai Zhang
• 金额: $ 7.7万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9164863
• 关键词: Assessing; Heat; Related; Morbidity; among

Project Abstract Extreme heat is a major public health problem that has caused more deaths than other weather related causes in the U.S. Farmworkers are vulnerable to extreme heat because nearly 85% of U.S. farmworkers labor outdoors and they are usually engaged in heavy work, e.g., the rate of heat-related deaths in the agriculture/forestry/fishing and hunting industry was the highest among all industry sectors. Projected increases in the frequency and intensity of heat waves together with an aging workforce are expected to worsen vulnerabilities of farmworkers to heat stress in a changing climate. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers are likely more vulnerable to heat than other workers because poverty, limited health insurance coverage and unauthorized work status might exacerbate their vulnerability. However, to our knowledge, no studies have quantified the associations between extreme heat and heat-related illness among migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. using medical records and evaluated potential vulnerability indicators. Our long-term goal is to reduce heat-related health effects for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. We are uniquely poised to achieve this goal because we can leverage resources from the first longitudinal medical records database (Community Based Research Network [CBRN]) among migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the U.S. Specifically, we propose: 1) to determine whether excess cases of all-cause and cause-specific (cardiovascular, respiratory, diabetes, renal and heat-related causes) illness occur among migrant and seasonal farmworkers included in CBRN on hot days; and 2) to evaluate potential determinants of vulnerability by assessing whether heat-morbidity associations differ, according to farmworker status, individual characteristics, and geographic areas. This project addresses a significant, but rarely studied extreme heat- related public health problem in a vulnerable population, and has implications for many other outdoor workers. This highly time- and cost-effective study will be the first to investigate heat-related illness on migrant and seasonal farmworkers using medical records in the U.S. The results of this study can help support evidence- based policy development, develop and evaluate targeted interventions, and improve surveillance of occupational injuries and illnesses that is greatly needed in the agriculture sector. The work is consistent with priorities identified by the National Occupational Research Agenda related to the Agriculture sector Intermediate Goal 5.4. This research contributes to the NIOSH research-to-practice (r2p) initiative by disseminating the research results to key stakeholders.

项目摘要 极端高温是一个主要的公共卫生问题，造成的死亡人数比其他与天气相关的原因还要多 在美国，农场工人很容易受到酷热的影响，因为近 85% 的美国农场工人都在劳动 他们通常在户外从事繁重的工作，例如，与高温相关的死亡率 农林渔猎业是所有工业部门中最高的。预计 热浪频率和强度的增加以及劳动力老龄化预计将导致 气候变化使农场工人更容易受到热应激的影响。移民和季节性农场工人 由于贫困、有限的医疗保险覆盖范围和 未经授权的工作状态可能会加剧他们的脆弱性。然而，据我们所知，没有研究表明 量化了移民和季节性人群中极端高温和与高温相关的疾病之间的关联 美国的农场工人使用医疗记录并评估潜在的脆弱性指标。我们的长期 目标是减少炎热对美国移民和季节性农场工人的健康影响。 我们有能力实现这一目标，因为我们可以利用第一个纵向医疗的资源 移民和季节性农场工人的记录数据库（基于社区的研究网络 [CBRN]） 具体来说，我们建议：1）确定全因和特定原因的病例是否过多 （心血管、呼吸系统、糖尿病、肾病和热相关原因）疾病发生在流动人口和 炎热天气下季节性农场工人纳入 CBRN； 2) 评估脆弱性的潜在决定因素 通过评估热病关联是否因农场工人的状况、个人的不同而有所不同 特征和地理区域。该项目解决了一个重要但很少研究的极端高温问题 弱势群体中的相关公共卫生问题，并对许多其他户外工作者产生影响。 这项具有高度时间和成本效益的研究将是第一个调查移民和移民与高温相关疾病的研究。 美国季节性农场工人使用医疗记录这项研究的结果可以帮助支持证据- 制定和评估有针对性的干预措施，并改进监测 农业部门急需的职业伤害和疾病。作品符合 国家职业研究议程确定的与农业部门相关的优先事项 中期目标 5.4。这项研究为 NIOSH 研究到实践 (r2p) 倡议做出了贡献 向主要利益相关者传播研究结果。