Respiratory health among Swedish fishermen

Introduction: Fishermen could be at risk for asthma and respiratory symptoms due to exposure to seafood products, food additives and preservatives, chemicals used for maintenance work (paints, glues, cleaning products, etc.) and diesel engine exhaust. However, Swedish fishermen have not been studied.    

Objective: The aim is to explore if there is a risk of asthma and respiratory symptoms in fishermen.    Methods: All 1837 licensed fishermen in Sweden and 2669 referents from the general population got a self-administered questionnaire exploring respiratory symptoms and occupational information. 1049 fishermen (1.3% women) and 1488 referents (52.8% women) answered. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) and odds ratio (OR) for physician-diagnosed asthma were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Atopy was defined as reported hay-fever and/or allergy in childhood.    

Results: Among fishermen the prevalence of asthma was 5.9% and the incidence during the work on board was 0.7×1000 p/y. In women working in fishery the incidence of asthma was higher than referents (IRR 8.2, 95% CI 2.6-26) but not among men (IRR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9) After adjusting for sex, age, atopy and smoking the risk of adult onset asthma in fishermen was not increased (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.4-1.9) and no specific task predicts this risk. Adult onset wheezing (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.7-1.3) was not more common among fishermen compared to general population.    

Conclusion: In this study we could not find an increased risk of asthma or wheezing in fishery among men. Despite the small number, the result of women working as fishermen deserves particular attention.