Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2010 Jul-Aug;32(4):452-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2010.03.004. Epub 2010 Mar 20.
The study aim was to determine whether low level exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) causes neuropsychological or psychiatric impairment. Methodological weaknesses of earlier studies were addressed by: recruiting participants who had retired on ill health grounds; excluding participants with a history of acute poisoning, medical or psychiatric conditions that might account for ill health; and exploring factors which may render some individuals more vulnerable to the effects of OPs than others. Performance on tests of cognition and mood of 127 exposed sheep farmers (67 working, 60 retired) was compared with 78 unexposed controls (38 working, 40 retired) and published test norms derived from a cross section of several thousand adults in the general population. Over 40% of the exposed cohort reported clinically significant levels of anxiety and depression compared to less than 23% of controls. Exposed subjects performed significantly worse than controls and standardisation samples on tests of memory, response speed, fine motor control, mental flexibility and strategy making, even after controlling for the effects of mood. The pattern was similar for both working and retired groups. The cognitive deficits identified cannot be attributed to mood disorder, malingering, a history of acute exposure or genetic vulnerability in terms of PON1(192) polymorphisms. Results suggest a relationship may exist between low level exposure to organophosphates and impaired neurobehavioural functioning and these findings have implications for working practice and for other occupational groups exposed to OPs such as aviation workers and Gulf War veterans.
本研究旨在确定低水平接触有机磷农药（OPs）是否会导致神经心理或精神障碍。通过以下方法解决了早期研究中的方法学弱点：招募因健康原因退休的参与者；排除有急性中毒史、可能导致健康不良的医疗或精神疾病史的参与者；并探讨可能使某些人比其他人更容易受到 OPs 影响的因素。比较了 127 名接触过 OPs 的绵羊养殖户（67 名在职，60 名退休）和 78 名未接触过 OPs 的对照组（38 名在职，40 名退休）的认知和情绪测试结果，并与从一般人群中数千名成年人中获得的横断面测试标准进行了比较。超过 40%的暴露组报告有临床显著水平的焦虑和抑郁，而对照组不到 23%。即使考虑到情绪的影响，暴露组的受试者在记忆、反应速度、精细运动控制、思维灵活性和策略制定等测试上的表现明显差于对照组和标准样本。对于在职和退休组，结果相似。所确定的认知缺陷不能归因于情绪障碍、装病、急性暴露史或 PON1(192)多态性的遗传易感性。结果表明，低水平接触有机磷农药可能与神经行为功能障碍之间存在关联，这些发现对工作实践以及其他接触有机磷农药的职业群体（如航空工人和海湾战争老兵）具有重要意义。
