Risk of myocardial infarction among pigeon breeders: A follow-up study

Abstract

Pigeon breeders are exposed to high levels of fine particulate organic matter in the pigeon lofts. A total of 6,704 pigeon breeders and their 1:30 sex and age-matched referents from the general Danish population were followed from 1980 or first year of membership in the Danish Racing Pigeon Association, until first event of myocardial infarction, emigration, death, or end of study, on December 31, 2013. Information on outcomes and covariates was obtained by record linkage with national registers. Stratified Cox regression models estimated the hazard ratio of myocardial infarction, adjusted for occupation and residence at the start of follow-up. Compared with referents, pigeon breeders had an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.14 (95% CI: 1.05–1.22) for myocardial infarction. Exposure to pigeon-derived organic dust may increase the risk of myocardial infarction, but this finding needs to be corroborated.

Keywords:

• Myocardial infarction
• organic dust
• pigeon breeder
• follow-up study

Acknowledgements

We thank the Danish Racing Pigeon Association for their contributions to the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research, Medical Sciences (DFF-4092-00367) and the Health Research Foundation of Central Denmark Region (A3543).