title: Heat index in migrant farmworker housing: implications for rest and recovery from work-related heat stress.
abstract: Although the health risk to farmworkers of working in hot conditions is recognized, potential for excessive heat exposure in housing affecting rest and recovery has been ignored. We assessed heat index in common and sleeping rooms in 170 North Carolina farmworker camps across a summer and examined associations with time of summer and air conditioning use. We recorded dangerous heat indexes in most rooms, regardless of time or air conditioning. Policies to reduce heat indexes in farmworker housing should be developed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. squandt@wakehealth.edu
authors.forename: Sara A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.forename: Melinda F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Wiggins
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Werner E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Bischoff
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Arcury
mesh_terms: D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D000389:Air Conditioning; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014171:Transients and Migrants