Abstract
The relative health status of 74 male working farmers registered at Ash Tree House Surgery, Kirkham, Lancashire, was compared with a control group taken from the same surgery. Medical records over a five-year period were analysed to reveal differences in the health status of the two groups. Overall more farmers visited the surgery for acute consultations with the General Practitioner (GP) and significantly (using the chi-squared test for significance) less for health promotion (P<0.05) than the control group. When visits were classified by disease type, more farmers were found to have visited the surgery with infections (P<0.05); disorders of the nervous system (P<0.01); disorders of the skin (P<0.05) and external causes of injury (P<0.01). The finding that farmers visit the surgery more often for acute consultations and less for health promotion, coupled with the finding that there are significant differences in the pattern of ill health between the two groups suggest that there is a need for health promotion among the farming community of Kirkham, Lancashire.
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