The impact of Pesticides and Workload on Osteoarthritis Incidence in Farmers: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease with abnormalities including bone remodeling, cartilage degradation, synovial inflammation, and osteophyte formation. Patients complain of pain, swelling, limitation of motion, and loss of joint function. One of the risk factors for OA is physically demanding jobs, such as agriculture. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that farming for 1-9 years and ≥10 years increases the risk of OA by 4.5 times and 9.3 times, respectively. This study aimed to determine the relationship between pesticides and workload (working period, work attitude/posture, and lifting heavy loads) with OA incidence in farmers. This research is a narrative review of the last ten years' journals. The study results concluded no relationship between pesticides and farmers' OA because there was no difference in pyrethroid, neonicotinoids, organophosphate, and their metabolites in OA patients' serum. The workload is related to the farmer's OA, especially attitude/work posture and working period. Squatting and kneeling pose becomes a risk of knee OA while lifting heavy objects is not associated with OA of farmers. This study concludes that there is no relationship between pesticides and OA, but there is a relationship between attitude/posture and tenure with OA in farmers.