Heat Related Illness and Factors Related to Heat Exposure of Agriculturists: A Systematic Review
Keywords:
Heat related illness, Risk factor, FarmerAbstract
Climate change has an impact in outdoor workers, especially agriculturists. When the body temperature is over 38 °C, it affects health with heat related symptoms. The objective of this systematic review was to investigate heat related illness and risk factors of heat exposure among agriculturists in Thailand or abroad. The review was carried out based on the relevant article published in Thai Journal Online, PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect between 2001-2021. There were 26 articles that met the criteria and the results showed that the highest prevalence of heat related illness was heat rash, followed by heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke, respectively. Most farmers had experience of symptoms related to heat related illness, i.e., headache/dizziness and sweaty, followed by muscle pain. Risk factors related heat exposure were personal factors, environmental factors, and work safety factors. Personal factors were body mass index (BMI), experienced heat related illness, heat knowledge, and work environmental factors were WBGT, humidity, wind velocity, workload, and safety behavior, i.e., use of chemical protective suit and no personal protective equipment. There had not been health risk self-assessment among agriculturists before to prevent heat-related illness, therefore the establishment of a long-term health surveillance program should be promoted health risk assessment among Thai agriculturists.
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