National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
Occup Environ Med. 2010 May;67(5):323-9. doi: 10.1136/oem.2009.047175. Epub 2009 Oct 22.
Exposure assessment to a single pesticide does not capture the complexity of the occupational exposure. Recently, pesticide use patterns analysis has emerged as an alternative to study these exposures. The aim of this study is to identify the pesticide use pattern among flower growers in Mexico participating in the study on the endocrine and reproductive effects associated with pesticide exposure.
A cross-sectional study was carried out to gather retrospective information on pesticide use applying a questionnaire to the person in charge of the participating flower growing farms. Information about seasonal frequency of pesticide use (rainy and dry) for the years 2004 and 2005 was obtained. Principal components analysis was performed.
Complete information was obtained for 88 farms and 23 pesticides were included in the analysis. Six principal components were selected, which explained more than 70% of the data variability. The identified pesticide use patterns during both years were: 1. fungicides benomyl, carbendazim, thiophanate and metalaxyl (both seasons), including triadimephon during the rainy season, chlorotalonyl and insecticide permethrin during the dry season; 2. insecticides oxamyl, biphenthrin and fungicide iprodione (both seasons), including insecticide methomyl during the dry season; 3. fungicide mancozeb and herbicide glyphosate (only during the rainy season); 4. insecticides metamidophos and parathion (both seasons); 5. insecticides omethoate and methomyl (only rainy season); and 6. insecticides abamectin and carbofuran (only dry season). Some pesticides do not show a clear pattern of seasonal use during the studied years.
The principal component analysis is useful to summarise a large set of exposure variables into smaller groups of exposure patterns, identifying the mixtures of pesticides in the occupational environment that may have an interactive effect on a particular health effect.
单次接触农药的评估并不能反映出职业接触的复杂性。最近，农药使用模式分析已成为研究这些接触的替代方法。本研究旨在确定参与与农药暴露相关的内分泌和生殖效应研究的墨西哥花卉种植者的农药使用模式。
进行了一项横断面研究，以收集有关农药使用的回顾性信息，方法是向参与花卉种植农场的负责人发放问卷。获取了 2004 年和 2005 年的农药季节性使用频率（雨季和旱季）信息。进行了主成分分析。
完成了 88 个农场的完整信息收集，共纳入 23 种农药进行分析。选择了 6 个主成分，它们解释了超过 70%的数据变异性。在这两年中确定的农药使用模式为：1. 杀菌剂苯菌灵、多菌灵、噻菌灵和甲霜灵（两个季节），包括雨季使用的三唑磷，旱季使用的氯氰菊酯和杀虫剂氯菊酯；2. 杀虫剂氧乐果、联苯菊酯和杀菌剂异菌脲（两个季节），包括旱季使用的杀虫剂灭多威；3. 杀菌剂代森锰锌和除草剂草甘膦（仅在雨季）；4. 杀虫剂马拉硫磷和对硫磷（两个季节）；5. 杀虫剂氧乐果和灭多威（仅在雨季）；6. 杀虫剂阿维菌素和克百威（仅在旱季）。一些农药在研究年份中没有明显的季节性使用模式。
主成分分析可用于将大量暴露变量总结为较小的暴露模式组，确定职业环境中可能对特定健康影响具有交互作用的农药混合物。
