Acute symptoms arising from application of herbicides among rice farmers in Song Phi Nong subdistrict, Song Phi Nong district, Suphan Buri province, Thailand: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Agriculture is a primary contributor to the Thailand economy. In order to high production, pesticide use is necessary and herbicides are the first import volume of pesticides. Meanwhile overuse of herbicide can cause adverse health effects such as acute symptoms even death, especially glyphosate, paraquat, and 2-4 D. The aim of this study is to explore acute symptoms arising from application of herbicides and to find factors associated to symptoms of herbicide exposure on rice farmers in Song Phi Nong subdistrict, Song Phi Nong district, SuphanBuri province, Thailand. A cross-sectional study was investigated 133 participants through face to face interview. Of 55.6% are female and average age is 45.8 years old, around 80% participants never drinking and smoking, 48.9% have lower than primary education, 61.7% have high knowledge level of herbicides, 67.7% have good practice, most of them wear long sleeves and long pants, some personal protective equipment (PPE) showed association with some acute symptoms. Besides, there are association among age, education, gender with herbicides exposure acute symptoms. Work time showed statistically significant with headache (p value = 0.015) and farmland also appeared significant with skin rash (p value = 0.042). And Knowledge and practice score have negative correlation (rs = -0.181, p < 0.05). Meanwhile findings showed a positive correlation between attitude score and practice score (rs = 0.256, p < 0.001). Additionally, highest prevalence of acute symptom is headache 45.1%. As for this study investigated in small group, further study would better use biomarkers and doctor diagnose evaluation.