ABSTRACT

Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) has been well described in farmworkers in Latin America. Agricultural workers in the United States (US) are exposed to similar hot and humid working conditions, but CKDu in the US is under-described. This review aims to better understand the current literature describing the connection between heat stress and kidney function in farmworkers in the United States. Utilizing a scoping review methodology, we searched CINAHL, Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science databases to better understand the current state of the heat stress and kidney function research in farmworkers within the United States. In this review, 229 pieces of literature were screened. Ultimately, 4 articles were chosen to be included in the scoping review. Common themes within the articles were variations in study protocol lengths and type of heat stress measurement. Additionally, the majority of the work completed was quantitative to date, with only one study providing a critical social lens for analysis of CKDu in the United States. We found evidence that more work is needed within the US to understand the relationship between working in the heat and kidney function in agricultural and other workers who experience high heat conditions at work and are susceptible to the deleterious effects of working in said conditions.

摘要

未知病因的慢性肾病 (CKDu) 在拉丁美洲的农场工人中得到了很好的描述。美国（US）的农业工人暴露在类似的炎热和潮湿的工作条件下，但美国的 CKDu 描述不足。这篇综述旨在更好地理解当前描述美国农场工人热应激与肾功能之间联系的文献。利用范围审查方法，我们搜索了 CINAHL、Embase、PubMed 和 Web of Science 数据库，以更好地了解美国农场工人热应激和肾功能研究的现状。本次审查共筛选出229篇文献。最终，选择了 4 篇文章纳入范围审查。文章中的共同主题是研究方案长度和热应力测量类型的变化。此外，迄今为止完成的大部分工作都是定量的，只有一项研究为美国 CKDu 的分析提供了重要的社会视角。我们发现有证据表明，在美国需要做更多的工作来了解农业工人和其他在高温条件下工作并容易受到在上述条件下工作的有害影响的工人的高温和肾功能之间的关系。