Rural work in the sugarcane sector and its influences on health: scoping review

Since the 2000s, a growing number of studies have been conducted that evaluate rural working conditions in sugarcane plantations. However, there is a need to organize their findings and compile the measures they suggest to protect workers’ health. The objective of this review was to map scientific publications on rural work at sugarcane plantations and its influence on the health of the industry’s workers. The methodological approach adopted was a scoping review, performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Literature searches were conducted in December 2019 using the Cochrane, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde databases. The inclusion criteria were original or review studies that answer the research question, with full text available in English, Portuguese, or Spanish, using qualitative or quantitative approaches. Articles were excluded if they did not answer the primary question, if they were duplicates, opinion pieces, theoretical reflections, books, guidelines, theses, or dissertations. A total of 193 studies were identified, 12 of which met the eligibility criteria. These studies showed that sugarcane workers are exposed to thermal, chemical, biological, physiological, mechanical, and emotional risks. The main health problems observed were respiratory, circulatory, renal, and musculoskeletal problems, genotoxic agents, and work-related accidents. It was therefore possible to conclude that the sugarcane work environment can impact workers’ health and disease processes.