Morbidity in Swedish farmers, 1978-1983, according to national hospital records

A number of epidemiological studies have shown that farmers have low mortality rates. To examine morbidity risks for male and female farmers in Sweden, the national hospital care registry was updated with information on occupation derived from the census of 1980. The cause-specific morbidity of farmers was compared with the morbidity of all economically active individuals in the same areas. A total of 60,515 farmers and 2,843,217 controls have been studied. The morbidity rates of the farmers were generally low. Male farmers had a significantly lower risk for cancer diseases, mental diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the digestive system, the uro-genital system, and skin diseases. Female farmers had a lower risk for diseases of the respiratory system, uro-genital system, skin diseases, diseases of the locomotor system, and accidents. A notable discrepancy between males and females concerning cardiovascular diseases was observed. Male farmers had a significantly lower risk than other men while female farmers had the same risk level as other economically active women. The relative risk of hospitalization for mental disease was also low. Male farmers had a risk for alcohol-dependent diseases and attempted suicides which was less than one-third of the risk for all economically active men. Concerning work-environment-related diseases in farming, it was shown that young male farmers had low rate ratios. However, the risks were found to increase with every decade, indicating that occupational health risks contribute to morbidity with advancing age.