Farm Exposures Frequently Cause COPD

Main Category: COPD
Article Date: 04 Nov 2005 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Although smoking is the main cause of COPD, new research shows that patients with COPD frequently have a history of agricultural exposures.

Researchers at the Omaha Veteran's Administration Hospital, Omaha, NE, administered a telephone survey to 150 veterans with COPD and found that 68 percent had a history of agricultural exposure.

Of these, histories of agricultural exposures included dairy farms (30 percent), hog confinement barns (21 percent), and poultry farms (12 percent). The researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Nebraska, suggest that agricultural exposures be included in the health-care analysis of patients living with COPD living in rural areas.

CHEST 2005 abstract highlights

Jennifer Stawarz
jstawarz@chestnet.org
American College of Chest Physicians
chestnet.org

• Additional
• References
• Citations