Tuberculosis Prevalence Among US Crop-Workers, 2000 to 2012: Trends and Contributing Factors.

Medel-Herrero, Alvaro; Martínez-López, Beatriz; Silva-Del-Rio, Noelia; Pires, Alda F; Edmondson, Anita; Schenker, Marc · J Occup Environ Med · 2018

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

We intend to study tuberculosis (TB) in one of the poorest communities in the US, hired agriculture workers, for most recent years (2000 to 2012) including the last recession period. Time-chart, simple mean differences, and logistic regressions were used to describe TB-prevalence and risk factors among US crop-workers. Data were drawn from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS). A high TB-prevalence was found among crop-workers with a dramatically increasing trend in recent years. Hispanic ethnicity, having farmworker family members, the presence of health insurance, and good spoken English were associated with an increased TB-prevalence. We found risk factors related to ethnicity and poor access to health care, a strong association between agriculture activity and TB, and an increase of TB-cases due to the 2008 downturn in this underserved population. We urge the health authorities to control this epidemic.

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