COPD in Dairy Farmers: Screening, Characterization and Constitution of a Cohort. The BALISTIC Study

A pilot study from the investigators group suggests that the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among dairy farmers is higher than in the general population. Most characteristics of COPD in dairy farmers (smoking habits, dyspnoea, quality of life, lung function, bronchial exhaled nitric oxide, systemic inflammation, arterial stiffness and exercise capacity) are largely unknown. Although immunization against organic dusts is suspected, the pathophysiology of COPD in dairy farmers is also unknown.

This study therefore aims at (i) comparing the prevalence of COPD in dairy farmers and in subjects without any occupational exposure (control arm) through a vast COPD detection program in the Franche-Comté region; (ii) comparing several characteristics (smoking habits, dyspnoea, quality of life, lung function, bronchial exhaled nitric oxide, systemic inflammation, arterial stiffness and exercise capacity) between dairy farmers with COPD and patients with COPD without any occupational exposure; (iv) identifying etiological factors of COPD in dairy farmers (comparison of exposure and specific immunoglobulin E between dairy farmers with COPD and dairy farmers with normal pulmonary function tests); and (v) constituting a cohort of COPD patients and control subjects for further longitudinal studies.

Data from selected patients (either current or former smokers) with mild COPD and from matched controls will also be analyzed in an ancillary study which objectives are to compare exercise tolerance, ventilatory constraints on tidal volume expansion and dyspnoea between asymptomatic mild COPD subjects, symptomatic mild COPD and healthy controls.