Objectives: Pesticide applicators (PAs) are potentially at high risk for developing heat-related illnesses (HRI). To identify HRI burden and potential targets for preventive interventions, a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of PAs from North Eastern Italy.Methods: The study inquired about HRI knowledge and relative risk perception as cumulative sum scores and behavioral adaptations, including the use of sun protective equipment, both as dichotomous factors and cumulative scores. Participants rated the frequency of HRI symptoms during the previous warm season: three or more occurring at least once/month defined HRI status. Association of individual/behavioral factors with HRI status was assessed through binary regression analysis by calculating odds ratios (OR) with the respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). A linear regression analysis was performed assuming the sum of symptoms as the outcome variable.Results: Participating in the survey was 131 Pas (81.7% males; mean age 46.5 ± 13.9 years). Although knowledge status was good (73.6%±18.1), risk perception was quite low (34.4%±16.9). HRI status was reported by 41.2% of participants, and was associated with manual hoeing/weeding (OR:8.847 95%CI 1.882-41.579), pesticide application (OR:2.975 95%CI 1.185-42.035), and rests in shady, not air-conditioned areas (OR:5.491 95%CI 1.372-21.971); while in regression analysis the sum of sun protective habits was the only negative predictor for the sum of reported symptoms (B -0.014, 95%CI -0.235 to -0.026, p = 0.014).Conclusion: Our results stress the opportunity for raising the risk perception of PAs through specifically tailored interventions. The use of sun-protective equipment should be promoted as an effective method to counter HRI symptoms.

中文翻译：

---

意大利东北部农药施用者与热有关的疾病（2017年）。

目标：农药喷洒器（PAs）可能会发展为与热相关的疾病（HRI）。为了确定HRI负担和预防干预措施的潜在目标，对意大利东北部的PA样本进行了基于问卷调查的横断面研究。方法：该研究以累积总分和行为适应性的方式询问HRI知识和相对风险感知，包括使用防晒用品，作为二分因素和累积得分。参与者对上一个温暖季节的HRI症状发生频率进行了评估：每月至少一次定义HRI状态发生三个或更多的HRI症状。通过二元回归分析，通过计算具有95％置信区间（95％CI）的比值比（OR），通过二元回归分析评估个人/行为因素与HRI状态的关联。结果：参加调查的患者为131 Pas（男性81.7％；平均年龄46.5±13.9岁），进行了线性回归分析。尽管知识状态良好（73.6％±18.1），但风险知觉很低（34.4％±16.9）。41.2％的参与者报告了HRI状态，与手工/除草（OR：8.847 95％CI 1.882-41.579），农药施用（OR：2.975 95％CI 1.185-42.035）有关，并且处于阴暗而不是空调区域（OR：5.491 95％CI 1.372-21.971）；而在回归分析中，太阳防护习惯的总和是报告症状总和的唯一负面预测指标（B -0.014，95％CI -0.235至-0.026，p = 0.014）。通过专门量身定制的干预措施来了解PA的风险。