Exacerbation of symptoms in agricultural pesticide applicators with asthma

Details

• Personal Author:
  Henneberger, Paul K. ; Hoppin JA ; Liang X ; London SJ ; Sandler DP ; Umbach DM
• Description:
  Purpose Exacerbation is a critical event in asthma management. We investigated whether exacerbation of symptoms is associated with farming exposures among agricultural pesticide applicators with asthma. Methods Participants were pesticide applicators with active asthma (wheezing and breathing problems in past 12 months) who completed enrollment questionnaires for the Agricultural Health Study (AHS). Exacerbation of asthma was defined as having visited a hospital emergency room or doctor for an episode of wheezing or whistling in the past 12 months. Exposures of interest were using 36 specific pesticides in the past 12 months and conducting various agricultural activities. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by logistic regression while controlling for potential confounders. Results The 926 AHS adult pesticide applicators with active asthma included 202 (22 %) with exacerbation. Inverse associations with exacerbation were observed for two herbicides [glyphosate, odds ratio (OR) = 0.5, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.3, 0.8, and paraquat, OR = 0.3, 95 % CI 0.1, 0.9] and several agricultural activities (repairing engines, grinding metal, driving diesel tractors, and performing veterinary procedures). Only asthma cases with allergies (i.e., doctor-diagnosed hay fever or eczema, 46 %) had positive exacerbation - pesticide associations, with OR = 2.1 (95 % CI 1.1, 4.1) for the herbicide pendimethalin and OR = 10.2 (95 % CI 1.9, 55) for the insecticide aldicarb. Conclusions The inverse associations with two pesticides and specific farm activities are consistent with the possibility that asthma cases prone to exacerbation may avoid exposures that trigger symptoms. Although limited by small sample size and a cross-sectional design, our study suggests that use of specific pesticides may contribute to exacerbation of asthma among individuals with allergies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Asthma Asthma, Occupational Insecticides Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Asthma Exacerbation Author Keywords: Asthma Bronchial-asthma Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Work-related

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• ISSN:
  1077-3525
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  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:
  423-432
• Volume:
  87
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042628
• Citation:
  Int J Occup Environ Health 2014 May; 87(4):423-432
• Contact Point Address:
  P. K. Henneberger, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, MS 2800, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  pkh0@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a90512e2d66046d9cbb0b035e54b13064f04d34c4a916014b24927aa3f3b13ea31638bf3b8fa5f4fa69ecc22f5ec3b224ba10dd20362df701277e01c4dbadbf9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194794/cdc_194794_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 223.31 KB ]