Abstract
Background: Farming has an enormous impact on the economy of Georgia, with as many as one in six Georgians working in agriculture.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the risk of death of white and black farmers to non-farmers in Georgia.
Methods: Mortality data stratified by age and aggregated by race were retrieved from the Georgia Office of Vital Statistics for the years 1985-1994. The classification system used to code occupation on the death certificate was W473-489, which includes farmers and most all other agricultural occupations. For each cause of death, the Breslow-Day Test was used to determine homogeneity of risk across all age strata (a=0.05). A common odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for all homogenous causes of death using the Mantel-Haenszel procedure.
Results : Among white farmers, the risk of death was significantly high for tuberculosis [OR=1.64 (1.01, 2.65)], fires [OR=1.60 (1.15, 2.22)], and accidental drowning [OR=1.52 (1.01, 2.28)]. The leading causes of death among black farmers were accidental drowning [OR=1.53 (1.03, 2.26)], cerebrovascular disease [OR=1.27 (1.18, 1.38)], and ischemic heart disease [OR=1.21 (1.14, 1.29)]. Causes of death reported to be significantly low were also investigated.
Conclusions: The findings of this study are varied, but trends related to risk of death appear to be similar to observed national trends.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| State | Published - Oct 21 2001 |
| Event | American Public Health Association Annual Conference (APHA) - Duration: Nov 1 2016 → … |
Conference
| Conference | American Public Health Association Annual Conference (APHA) |
|---|---|
| Period | 11/1/16 → … |
Disciplines
- Epidemiology
- Medicine and Health Sciences
- Public Health
Keywords
- Risk of Death
- Employees
- Agriculture
- Georgia
