November 24, 2009

Stable workers in a study were more than three times more likely to develop respiratory problems than members of the control group.

The researchers put the difference down to pair air quality in barns.

The findings came from the analysis of information returned in a questionnaire study undertaken earlier this year by investigators at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, in Massachusetts.

The study, which polled more than 80 New England horse barn workers, found that 50 per cent of those working in barns complained of coughing, wheezing, or other ailments in the last year, compared to just 15 per cent in the control group of 74 people.

Moreover, increased exposure to barns yielded higher rates of self-reported respiratory symptoms, the study found.

The findings were published in the journal Occupational Medicine and were funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"It has long been known that lower respiratory illness is common in horses, and this is typically attributed to the amount of dust in barns," said veterinarian Melissa Mazan, associate professor of clinical sciences at the Cummings School and the study's lead author.

"Our hope was to see whether this poor air quality affects horse owners, and it appears that it might."

For the study, Mazan and her colleagues, including Jessica Svatek, Louise Maranda, and Andrew Hoffman, collaborated with researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Connecticut, and the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory at the Environmental Protection Agency's Research Triangle Park.

Dr Mazan says that although further study is necessary to determine the causes of respiratory distress, the results are striking - and may be similar among pig, dairy and chicken farmers, who work in environments similarly high in organic dust.

A 2001 study of European animal farmers found similar results.

Investigation of exposure to the dust, lung function and horse dander allergies in the barn-exposed group will be necessary to determine how best to protect the health of this group, Dr Mazan says.