Dipartimento di Scienze di Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2010;46(3):284-7. doi: 10.4415/ANN_10_03_10.
A few epidemiologic studies have suggested an association of agricultural work and pesticides exposure with a severe degenerative disease of the motor neurons, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), though conflicting results have also been provided. We investigated through a population-based case-control study the possible relation between overall occupational exposure to pesticides and ALS risk in the northern Italy municipality of Reggio Emilia. By administering a questionnaire, we investigated occupational history and leisure-time habits of the 41 ALS patients diagnosed in the 1995-2006 period, and of 82 age- and sex-matched randomly sampled population controls. More cases than controls were found to have been exposed to pesticides for at least six months (31.7% vs 13.4%, respectively), in all cases within the occupational environment. In a conditional logistic regression model, we found an excess ALS risk associated with exposure to pesticides, with a relative risk of 3.6 (95% confidence interval 1.2-10.5). Such association persisted after inclusion in the statistical analysis of potential confounders. Despite the limited statistical stability of the risk estimates, these results appear to indicate that occupational exposure to pesticides is a risk factor for ALS, suggesting the need to further investigate this issue.
一些流行病学研究表明，农业工作和接触农药与运动神经元严重退行性疾病肌萎缩侧索硬化症（ALS）之间存在关联，但也有相互矛盾的结果。我们通过一项基于人群的病例对照研究，调查了意大利北部雷焦艾米利亚市总体职业性农药暴露与 ALS 风险之间的可能关系。通过问卷调查，我们调查了在 1995-2006 年期间诊断出的 41 名 ALS 患者和 82 名年龄和性别匹配的随机抽样人群对照者的职业史和休闲时间习惯。与对照组相比，更多的病例（分别为 31.7%和 13.4%）被发现至少接触过六个月的农药，而且都是在职业环境中接触的。在条件逻辑回归模型中，我们发现接触农药与 ALS 风险增加有关，相对风险为 3.6（95%置信区间为 1.2-10.5）。在对潜在混杂因素进行统计分析后，这种关联仍然存在。尽管风险估计的统计学稳定性有限，但这些结果似乎表明职业性农药暴露是 ALS 的一个危险因素，表明有必要进一步调查这一问题。
