Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Health Outcomes among Meat Handlers in Urban Maharashtra: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Background: Meat handlers, including slaughterers and butchers, play a crucial role in the food industry, ensuring the safe production and distribution of meat products. Their occupation predisposes them to various types of occupational hazards, which is the least explored area of research in our country. Aims and Objectives: To assess the sociodemographic determinants affecting the health status of meat handlers with their morbidity patterns. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional observational study done in the field practice area of an urban health training centre of a medical college. The study was conducted for a period of 2 years (January 2014 to December 2015). The sample size was poultry handlers – 95, meat and lamb handlers – 40, and beef handlers – 50. A complete enumeration method was used in this study to include all the meat handlers working in the study area. All meat handlers who were working in this profession for a period of not <1 year and who were willing to participate were included in the study. Thus, the sample size obtained was 171. Data entry was done by the investigator using Microsoft Excel 2007 version. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results: Most of the study subjects, i.e., 83 (48.54%) were educated till primary school, and most of them were from the lower middle class. 117 (68.42%) subjects were putting in more than 8 h of work per day. The majority (20; 11.7%) suffered from diarrhea in the past 1 year, followed by 18 (10.53%) study subjects who suffered from candidiasis and Taenia. Around 15 (8.77%) of the study subjects had upper respiratory tract infection/allergy, whereas 9 (5.26%) and 8 (4.68%) meat handlers suffered from typhoid and dermatitis, respectively, in the past 1 year. Conclusion: Low socioeconomic status and illiteracy were found to be associated with ill health. The frequency of sharpening of instruments and hours of work/day were significantly associated with musculoskeletal pain. Thus, targeted interventions are needed to reduce occupational health risk in meat handlers.