Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health

The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine (대한예방의학회)
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Reliability of Self-Reported Information by Farmers on Pesticide Use

일부 농업인에서 자기 기입식 농약 노출 설문에 대한 신뢰도 연구

  • Lee, Yo-Han (Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine) ;
  • Cha, Eun-Shil (Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine) ;
  • Moon, Eun-Kyeong (Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine) ;
  • Kong, Kyoung-Ae (Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Chronic Disease Surveillance) ;
  • Koh, Sang-Baek (Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine) ;
  • Lee, Yun-Keun (Wonjin Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Lee, Won-Jin (Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine)
  • 이요한 (고려대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 차은실 (고려대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 문은경 (고려대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 공경애 (질병관리본부 만성병조사과) ;
  • 고상백 (연세대학교 원주의과대학 예방의학교실) ;
  • 이윤근 (원진노동환경건강연구소) ;
  • 이원진 (고려대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실)
  • Received : 2010.07.12
  • Accepted : 2010.10.07
  • Published : 2010.11.30
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Abstract

Objectives: Exposure assessment is a major challenge faced by studies that evaluate the association between pesticide exposure and adverse health outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate the reliability of information that farmers self-report regarding their pesticide use. Methods: Twenty five items based upon existing questionnaires were designed to focus on pesticide exposure. In 2009, a selfadministrated survey was conducted on two occasions four weeks apart among 205 farmers residing in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces. For a reliability measure, we calculated the percentage agreement, the kappa statistics and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two reports according to the characteristics of the subjects. Results: Agreement for ever-never use of any pesticide was 96.4% (kappa 0.61). For both 'years used' and 'age at the first use' of overall pesticides, high agreement was obtained (ICC: 0.88 and, 0.78, respectively), whereas those of 'days used' and 'hours used' were relatively low (ICC: 0.42 and, 0.66, respectively). The kappa value for the use of personal protective equipment ranged from 0.46 to 0.59, and hygiene activities came out at 0.19 to 0.37. The agreement for individual pesticide use ranged widely and there was relatively low agreement due to the low response rates. The reliability scores did not significantly vary according to gender, age, the education level, the types of crop or the years of farming. Conclusions: Our results support that carefully designed, self-reported information on ever-never pesticide use among farmers is reliable. However, the reliability of data on individual pesticide exposure may be unstable due to low response rates and needs to be refined.

Keywords

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