Objectives: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors affecting work-related musculoskeletal symptoms in farmers. Methods: In order to examine the factors affecting the musculoskeletal symptoms among farmers, data of ‘Occupational Disease Survey for Farmers’ was performed by the RDA(Rural Development Administration). Results: The odds ratio of work-related musculoskeletal symptoms among female farmers were 1.42(1.30-1.56) times higher than male farmers. The older aging and longer the agricultural work period, the higher odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms was shown. By major crops, all crop farmers showed higher odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms compared to rice crop farmers. As a result of examining the effective factors on the odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms by body parts, female farmers had higher odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms than male farmers by 1.38(1.26-1.51) times in waist, 1.58(1.44-1.74) times in knee, 1.32(1.05-0.67) times in hand/wrist, and 1.30(1.06-1.59) times in foot/ankle.By crops, animal husbandry farmers had higher odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms than rice crop farmers by 1.44(0.89-2.35) times in waist, and field crop farmers were 1.37(1.07-1.77) times higher in knee. Compared with rice crop farmers, odds ratio of the shoulder part the shoulder parts were 1.19(0.81-1.76) times higher in greenhouse crop farmers and 1.16(0.97-1.38) times higher in dry field crop farmers. Odds ratio of the hands/wrist parts were higher odds ratio of musculoskeletal symptoms than rice crop farmers by 1.69(1.00-2.87) times in greenhouse crop farmers. Conclusions The results of this study would help to select the group that needs to be managed first, and could be used as basic data for the development of customized musculoskeletal disorders prevention programs.

This study aimed to evaluate differences in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-related indicators among families of community-dwelling coronary heart disease (CHD) patients according to their occupation. A total of 6,867 family members living with CHD patients were selected for analysis from the 2016 Korea Community Health Survey. Respondents’ occupations were classified into managers and professionals (MP), clerks (CL), service and sales workers (SSW), agricultural/forestry/fishery workers (AFFW), mechanical and manual laborers (MML), and homemakers and unemployed (HU). The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for awareness of CPR in the MP (3.82), SSW (1.73), and MML (1.29) groups were higher than that in HU (reference), while the CL (1.42) and AFFW (1.04) groups showed no significant difference compared to HU. The aORs for experience with CPR education and manikin-assisted CPR training were higher among the MP (4.00 and 3.94), CL (2.61 and 2.26), SSW (2.02 and 1.91), and MML (1.99 and 1.69) groups than in HU, and only AFFW (1.22 and 1.18) showed no difference from HU. Finally, the aOR for self-efficacy in CPR performance was significantly higher among the MP (3.17), CL (1.64), SSW (1.87), and MML (1.44) groups than in HU. However, there was no significant difference between AFFW (1.22) and HU in self-efficacy in CPR performance. To improve the survival rate of CHD patients through successful CPR at the pre-hospital stage during cardiac arrest, it is important to increase the ability of family members of CHD patients to perform CPR, especially among those in AFFW and HU occupations.

Objective: Farmers are known to have high prevalence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). This study aims to investigate the current status of asthma and COPD in domestic and foreign farmers with the ultimate goal of raising awareness of asthma and COPD among farmers and contribute to supporting evidence for the prevention of respiratory diseases in farmers. Methods: The study utilized data from the "Farmer’s Occupational Disease Survey," conducted by the Rural Development Administration, to determine the prevalence of respiratory diseases in domestic farmers.The prevalence of asthma and COPD in overseas farmers was evaluated by researching other foreign studies and articles. Results: The prevalence of asthma and COPD in domestic farmers was less than of foreign farmers’.The prevalence of asthma in domestic farmers was high as upto 8.4% and COPD upto 5.5%. Studies from Europe and America showed prevalence of asthma in farmers high as upto 14.8% and COPD upto 17.1%. Conclusions This study conducted an investigation using the 'Survey on Occupational Diseases and Injuries in Farmers to understand the current status of asthma and COPD in domestic farmers. Due to a lack of relevant domestic research, we examined and compared with the research results on asthma and COPD among overseas farmers. Further research is necessary and preventive measures for respiratory diseases need to be developed.

Objective: This study was a preliminary study for the prevention programs for farmers' occupational diseases. It selected the priorities recognized by farmers, such as occupational diseases, and also identifies the effectiveness and feasibility of prevention programs among diseases recognized by farmers. Therefore, we plan to use it as basis data for future farmer safety and health programs.Method: The subjects of the study were farmers living in the region, selected through a snowball recruitment method, and a total of 671 people were targeted. The priority selection method was the Basic Priority Rating System (BPRS) method, and among the occupational diseases, programs to prevent musculoskeletal diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and pesticide poisoning were surveyed on the effectiveness and feasibility of farmers. Results: Among occupational diseases, the highest priority was musculo-skeletal disease, followed by respiratory disease and pesticide poisoning. Among the programs for musculoskeletal disease, 'use of agricultural work convenience equipment and auxiliary tools' had the highest perceived effectiveness and feasibility. Among the five programs for pesticide poisoning, ‘equipment of protective equipment such as pesticide protective clothing/glove’ had the highest effectiveness at 67.4%, and ‘compliance with pesticide use instructions’ had the highest level of feasibility at 64.3%. Among the four programs to prevent respiratory diseases, ‘wearing a dust mask or gas mask’ was the highest at 65.5% in terms of both effectiveness and feasibility. Conclusion When carrying out safety and health programs for farmers, the priorities recognized by farmers should be taken into consideration, and the program contents should also be developed taking into account the size of effect and feasibility recognized by farmers.

Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive, autoimmune disorder that impairs patients’ overall health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In this study, we evaluated the effect of adalimumab in Korean patients with active RA on HRQOL. Methods: Patients included in the study had moderate to severe active RA that did not respond to conventional drugs with a Disease Activity Score of 28 joints ＞3.2 and were biologics-naïve. All patients received adalimumab 40 mg subcutaneously every other week and were followed for 24 weeks. The primary endpoint was the change in baseline Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) score at week 24. Secondary endpoints were changes in the EuroQol 5-dimension 3-Level (EQ-5D-3L) baseline score and Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) domain scores at weeks 12 and 24 and change in baseline HAQ-DI score at week 12. Results: In total, 91 Korean patients were included. Ninety-three percent of patients were in high disease activity with a baseline mean DAS28 value of 6.1 within all patients. The mean change from baseline in HAQ-DI scores were −0.46 at week 12 and∼0.67 at week 24 (p＜0.0001). Additionally, EQ-5D-3L score at weeks 12 and 24 had significantly improved (p＜0.0001) compared to baseline. SF-36 at weeks 12 and 24 had significantly improved (p＜0.0001, p=0.0001) compared to baseline. Conclusion Treatment with adalimumab resulted in significant improvement in HAQ-DI, EQ-5D-3L, and SF-36 scores at 12 and 24 weeks in Korean RA patient.