Pesticides and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma Among Farm Women in the Agricultural Health Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alavanja MCR ; Henneberger, Paul K. ; Hoppin JA ; Kullman, Greg J. ; London SJ ; Sandler DP ; Umbach DM
• Description:
  Rationale: Risk factors for asthma among farm women are understudied. Objectives: We evaluated pesticide and other occupational exposures as risk factors for adult-onset asthma. Methods: Studying 25,814 farm women in the Agricultural Health Study, we used self-reported history of doctor-diagnosed asthma with or without eczema and/or hay fever to create two case groups: patients with atopic asthma and those with nonatopic asthma. We assessed disease-exposure associations with polytomous logistic regression. Measurements and Main Results: At enrollment (1993-1997), 702 women (2.7%) reported a doctor's diagnosis of asthma after age 19 years (282 atopic, 420 nonatopic). Growing up on a farm (61% of all farm women) was protective for atopic asthma (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.70) and, to a lesser extent, for nonatopic asthma (OR, 0.83; 95%CI, 0.68-1.02; P value for difference = 0.008). Pesticide use was almost exclusively associated with atopic asthma. Any use of pesticides on the farm was associated only with atopic asthma (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.14-1.87). This association with pesticides was strongest among women who had grown up on a farm. Women who grew up on farms and did not apply pesticides had the lowest overall risk of atopic asthma (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27-0.62) compared with women who neither grew up on farms nor applied pesticides. A total of 7 of 16 insecticides, 2 of 11 herbicides, and 1 of 4 fungicides were significantly associated with atopic asthma; only permethrin use on crops was associated with nonatopic asthma. Conclusions: These findings suggest that pesticides may contribute to atopic asthma, but not nonatopic asthma, among farm women. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Asthma Asthma, Occupational Carbamates Chlorine Compounds Demography Farmers Fungi Fungicide, Industrial Herbicides Hypersensitivity Insecticides Occupational Health Organophosphates Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Women

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-workers Allergies Allergy Asthma Author Keywords: Agricultural Workers Bronchial-asthma Demographic-characteristics Fumigants Fungicides Organo-chlorine-compounds Organo-phosphorus-pesticides Organophosphates Pesticides Respiratory-system-disorders Risk-factors Statistical-analysis

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• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  11-18
• Volume:
  177
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20033088
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2008 Jan; 177(1):11-18
• Contact Point Address:
  Jane A. Hoppin, Sc.D., NIEHS Epidemiology Branch, MD A3-05, P.O. Box 12233, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2233
• Email:
  hoppin1@niehs.nih.gov
• CAS Registry Number:
  Permethrin (CAS RN 52645-53-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d5b2ee79b7eb6224005fb55360c9bab9443bbe6a823f6d343d9b363d4b2485a2b991f62274dad499245777deb49dabeaaf5b7c222b0ed68d982be5cc0989f9f9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/188792/cdc_188792_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 150.29 KB ]