Morbidity Pattern among the Farm House Residents in Vijayapur District, Karnataka � A Cross Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Background: Agriculture Workers have a multitude of health problems, a fact which is often forgotten because of widespread misconception that occupational health is mainly concerned with industry and industrialized countries. The health problems of workers in agricultural field may be accidents (Snake and insect bites), toxic hazards (chemical exposure and insecticide poisoning), physical hazards (extreme conditions and solar radiation) and respiratory problems (farmer抯 lung and occupational asthma). Objectives: To study the morbidity pattern among the Farm house residents. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among the farm house residents in rural areas of Vijayapura district. A Sample of 450 farm house residents were interviewed by pre-structured proferma containing information regarding Socio demographic profile, present and past six months morbidities. In each Taluka, the selection of households was done by considering villages as the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU). PSUs were selected with probability proportional to size sampling and 5 households in a selected PSU were selected by random sampling.All characteristics were summarized descriptively, Chi-square (?2) test was employed to determine the significance of differences between groups for categorical data. Results: The findings of the present study among Farm dwellers in the rural area of vijayapura district revealed that majority at the time of study were having Anaemia followed by Respiratory Infection and majority of Farm dwellers in past six months were having Dental carries as a morbidity followed by Respiratory infection. Conclusion: The present study concludes that overall majority of the Farm house residents presently suffering from Non-communicable Diseases (54%) followed by Communicable Diseases (46%).