Association between livestock farm exposures and current wheeze within subgroups of patients (based on questionnaire)
| Wheezing or whistling on chest in last 12 months | |||
| COPD | Current asthma | Nasal allergies | |
| Subjects n | 322 | 748 | 670 |
| Exposure | |||
| Presence of livestock farms | |||
| Within 100 m | 0.93 (0.25–3.54) | 0.61 (0.30–1.23) | 0.80 (0.46–1.37) |
| Within 500 m | 1.35 (0.96–1.91) | 0.93 (0.74–1.15) | 0.89 (0.74–1.06) |
| Within 1000 m | 1.62 (0.87–3.02) | 1.17 (0.76–1.80) | 1.07 (0.74–1.55) |
| Presence of farm animals in 500 m (yes or no) | |||
| Pigs | 1.05 (0.66–1.68) | 1.08 (0.81–1.44) | 0.90 (0.72–1.14) |
| Poultry | 1.30 (0.76–2.23) | 1.17 (0.86–1.61) | 1.27 (0.99–1.63) |
| Cattle | 1.46 (0.99–2.16) | 0.84 (0.67–1.07) | 0.88 (0.73–1.07) |
| Goats | 0.69 (0.14–3.40) | 0.79 (0.30–2.10) | 0.80 (0.38–1.71) |
| Mink | 2.68 (0.27–26.29) | 2.05 (0.63–6.65) | 0.71 (0.34–1.47) |
| Presence of farm animals in 1000 m (yes or no) | |||
| Pigs | 0.97 (0.60–1.56) | 1.04 (0.78–1.39) | 0.89 (0.70–1.12) |
| Poultry | 0.96 (0.66–1.39) | 0.94 (0.74–1.19) | 0.95 (0.79–1.16) |
| Cattle | 1.19 (0.63–2.24) | 0.93 (0.62–1.39) | 1.02 (0.74–1.39) |
| Goats | 0.99 (0.52–1.88) | 1.16 (0.76–1.76) | 0.83 (0.60–1.15) |
| Mink | 1.09 (0.53–2.28) | 0.88 (0.56–1.39) | 1.19 (0.83–1.71) |
| Distance to the nearest farm (quartiles) | |||
| >640 m | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 450–640 m | 2.17 (1.32–3.57) | 0.94 (0.69–1.27) | 1.14 (0.89–1.46) |
| 290–450 m | 1.65 (1.05–2.59) | 0.88 (0.65–1.19) | 0.89 (0.70–1.14) |
| <290 m | 1.45 (0.90–2.35) | 0.91 (0.67–1.23) | 0.99 (0.77–1.27) |
| Test for trend | 0.14 | 0.48 | 0.46 |
| Number of livestock farms in 1000 m (quartiles) | |||
| <4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4–7 | 0.96 (0.61–1.51) | 0.76 (0.57–1.02) | 0.96 (0.76–1.22) |
| 7–11 | 1.01 (0.64–1.59) | 0.81 (0.60–1.08) | 0.83 (0.65–1.05) |
| >11 | 1.71 (1.01–2.89) | 0.93 (0.67–1.28) | 0.90 (0.70–1.15) |
| Test for trend | 0.09 | 0.58 | 0.20 |
| Fine dust emission from farms | |||
| Log-weighted fine dust emission from farms within 500 m# | 1.03 (0.99–1.08) | 1.00 (0.97–1.03) | 0.99 (0.97–1.01) |
| Log-weighted fine dust emission from farms within 1000 m# | 1.01 (0.96–1.07) | 0.99 (0.96–1.03) | 0.98 (0.95–1.01) |
Data are presented as OR (95% CI), unless otherwise stated. OR (95% CI) were adjusted for age, sex and smoking habits. The presence of a type of farm animal is adjusted for the presence of other types of farm animals. Bold type indicates statistical significance (p<0.05). #: OR (95% CI) for an interquartile range (IQR) increase in log-transformed exposure. IQR for ln (fine dust) for farms within 500 m 7.54 g·year−1·m−2, corresponding to a 1881-fold increase (exposure 7.54) for nontransformed values and IQR for ln (fine dust) for farms within 1000 m 3.08 g·year−1·m−2, corresponding to a 22-fold increase for nontransformed values.