Characteristics of farmers who have obtained personal dust respirators.

A postal survey was used to investigate the characteristics of farmers who have acquired dust respirators. In 1979 about a quarter of the farmers were using dust respirators, men more often than women. The more vocational training the farmer had and the larger the area of land under cultivation the more likely he was to own a dust respirator. Grain producers had purchased the protective devices more frequently than other farmers had. Farmers who participated in the occupational health intervention during 1980-82 had acquired dust respirators considerably more often than those in the control group. In the intervention group men under 30 years had most frequently purchased the dust respirators. Participation in the intervention influenced the acquisition of dust respirators more than did occurrence of symptoms of chronic bronchitis or farmer's lung.