INSERM U625, GERHM, IFR140, Campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, France.
Environ Health. 2010 Nov 15;9:71. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-9-71.
Pesticide use is widespread in agriculture. Several studies have shown that pesticides used in agricultural fields can contaminate the domestic environment and thus be an important source of pesticide exposure of populations residing nearby. Epidemiological studies that have examined the health effects of in utero pesticide exposure from residence near agricultural activities suggest adverse effects, but the results are inconsistent. Our purpose was to investigate the effect on intrauterine growth of such exposure due to agricultural activities in the residential municipality.
A prospective birth cohort recruited 3421 pregnant women in a French agricultural region (Brittany, 2002-2006) through gynecologists, ultrasonographers, and maternity hospitals during routine prenatal care visits before 19 weeks of gestation. The national agricultural census in 2000 provided the percentages of the municipality area devoted to cultivation of corn, wheat, colza, peas, potatoes, and fresh vegetables.
Birth weight and the risk of fetal growth restriction were not associated with agricultural activities in the municipality of residence in early pregnancy. Children whose mother lived in a municipality where peas were grown had a smaller head circumference at birth than those in municipalities not growing peas (-0.2 cm, p = 0.0002). Head circumference also tended to be lower when wheat was grown, but not to a statistically significant degree (p-trend = 0.10). Risk of an infant with a small head circumference was higher for mothers living in a municipality where peas (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.2-3.6) or potatoes (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 0.9-2.4) were grown.
Agricultural activities in the municipality of residence may have negative effects on cranial growth. Cultivation of pea crops and, to a lesser degree, potato and wheat crops, may negatively affect head circumference. Insecticides, including organophosphate insecticides, were applied to most of the area devoted to pea and potato crops; this was less true for corn and wheat crops. These results must be interpreted in light of the study's limitations, in particular, the scale at which we could assess pesticide exposure.
农药在农业中广泛使用。多项研究表明，农业领域使用的农药会污染家庭环境，因此成为居住在附近人群接触农药的重要来源。研究居住在农业活动附近的人群因宫内接触农药而产生的健康影响的流行病学研究表明存在不良影响，但结果不一致。我们的目的是研究居住在农业活动所在的市镇环境中接触农药对宫内生长的影响。
2002-2006 年，在法国一个农业地区（布列塔尼），通过妇科医生、超声医生和妇产科医院，在妊娠 19 周之前的常规产前检查期间，对 3421 名孕妇进行了前瞻性出生队列研究。2000 年的全国农业普查提供了市镇面积用于种植玉米、小麦、油菜、豌豆、土豆和新鲜蔬菜的百分比。
妊娠早期，市镇农业活动与出生体重和胎儿生长受限的风险无关。与在不种植豌豆的市镇生活的母亲相比，其子女出生时头围较小（-0.2cm，p=0.0002）。种植小麦时，头围也有下降趋势，但没有达到统计学意义（p-趋势=0.10）。当母亲居住在种植豌豆（OR=2.2；95%CI=1.2-3.6）或土豆（OR=1.5；95%CI=0.9-2.4）的市镇时，婴儿头围较小的风险较高。
市镇居住的农业活动可能对头部生长有负面影响。种植豌豆作物，在较小程度上，种植土豆和小麦作物，可能会对头围产生负面影响。大多数豌豆和土豆作物都使用了杀虫剂，包括有机磷杀虫剂；而玉米和小麦作物则较少使用这些杀虫剂。这些结果必须根据研究的局限性进行解释，特别是我们评估农药暴露的范围。
