More recently, a case–control survey [68] compared
102 cases of RA attending a university hospital with 248
community referents. For men, occupations at greater
risk included farmers and farm workers (OR = 1.8,
95% CI = 1.0–3.5), but the same association was not
found among women. Seropositive RA was linked with
exposure to crops (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 0.7–4.9) and
pesticides in general (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 0.5–5.6), but
not with fertilizers (OR = 0.9). In a separate analysis
of proportionate occupational mortality for men from
Washington State [69], male farmers had an excess risk of
RA as a mentioned cause of death (74 deaths observed
versus 53 deaths expected, a proportional mortality ratio
of 140).