Safety and Health at Work

Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (산업안전보건연구원)
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Comparison of Overall Immunity Levels among Workers at Grape Orchard, Rose Greenhouse, and Open-Field Onion Farm

  • Maharjan, Anju (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Gautam, Ravi (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Jo, JiHun (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Acharya, Manju (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Lee, DaEun (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Pramod, Bahadur KC (Graduate School Department of Toxicology, Daegu Catholic University Gyeongsan) ;
  • Gim, Jin (Bonghwang Nonghyup) ;
  • Sin, Sojung (Agricultural Health and Safety Team, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration) ;
  • Kim, Hyocher (Agricultural Health and Safety Team, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration) ;
  • Kim, ChangYul (Graduate School Department of Toxicology, Daegu Catholic University Gyeongsan) ;
  • Lee, SooYeon (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hanyang University Hospital) ;
  • Lee, SooJin (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University) ;
  • Heo, Yong (Department of Occupational Health, College of Bio and Medical Sciences, Daegu Catholic University) ;
  • Kim, HyoungAh (Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea)
  • Received : 2021.06.07
  • Accepted : 2021.12.17
  • Published : 2022.06.30
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Abstract

Background: Occupational hazards in crop farms vary diversely based on different field operations as soil management, harvesting processes, pesticide, or fertilizer application. We aimed at evaluating the immunological status of crop farmers, as limited systematic investigations on immune alteration involved with crop farming have been reported yet. Methods: Immunological parameters including plasma immunoglobulin level, major peripheral immune cells distribution, and level of cytokine production from activated T cell were conducted. Nineteen grape orchard, 48 onion open-field, and 21 rose greenhouse farmers were participated. Results: Significantly low proportion of natural killer (NK) cell, a core cell for innate immunity, was revealed in the grape farmers (19.8±3.3%) in comparison to the onion farmers (26.4±3.1%) and the rose farmers (26.9±2.5%), whereas cytotoxic T lymphocyte proportion was lower in the grape and the onion farmers than the rose farmers. The proportion of NKT cell, an immune cell implicated with allergic response, was significantly higher in the grape (2.3±0.3%) and the onion (1.6±0.8%) farmers compared with the rose farmers (1.0±0.4%). A significantly decreased interferon-gamma:interleukin-13 ratio was observed from ex vivo stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells of grape farmers compared with the other two groups. The grape farmers revealed the lowest levels of plasma IgG1 and IgG4, and their plasma IgE level was not significantly different from that of the onion or the rose farmers. Conclusion: Our finding suggests the high vulnerability of workplace-mediated allergic immunity in grape orchard farmers followed by open-field onion farmers and then the rose greenhouse farmers.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by Rural Development Agency of Korea (grant. no. PJ014269022020) and the educational training program for the management of information on the hazard and risk of chemical substances funded by the Ministry of Environment, Korea (entrusted to Korea Chemicals Management Association).

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