Forté Chanese A, Colacino Justin, Polemi Katelyn, Guytingco Andrea, Peraino Nicholas J, Jindaphong Siripond, Kaviya Tharinya, Westrick Judy, Neitzel Richard, Nambunmee Kowit
School of Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
College of Engineering, Scientific Computing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
J Occup Health. 2021 Jan;63(1):e12222. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12222.
To assess pesticide exposure and understand the resultant health effects of agricultural workers in Northern Thailand.
This was a cross-sectional study. We quantified exposure to pesticides, including chlorpyrifos, methomyl, and metalaxyl, by air sampling and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. We estimated differences in self-reported health outcomes, complete blood counts, cholinesterase activity, and serum/urine calcium and creatinine concentrations at baseline between farmworkers and comparison workers, and after pesticide spraying in farmworkers only.
This study included 97 men between the ages of 22 and 76 years; 70 were conventional farmworkers; and 27 did not report any prior farmwork or pesticide spraying. None of the farmworkers wore standardized personal protective equipment (PPE) for the concentrated chemicals they were working with. Methomyl (8.4-13 481.9 ng/m ), ethyl chlorpyrifos (11.6-67 759 ng/m ), and metalaxyl (13.9-41 191.3 ng/m ) were detected via personal air sampling. When it came to reporting confidence in the ability to handle personal problems, only 43% of farmworkers reported feeling confident, which reflects higher stress levels in comparison to 78% of comparison workers (P = .028). Farmworkers also had significantly lower monocyte counts (P = .01), serum calcium (P = .01), red blood count (P = .01), white blood cell count (P = .04), and butyrylcholinesterase activity (P < .0001), relative to comparison workers. After adjusting for body mass index (BMI), age, and smoking, methomyl air concentrations were associated with a decrease in farmworker acetylcholinesterase activity (beta = -0.327, P = .016).
This population of farmworkers had significant alterations in stress measures and clinical biomarkers, including decreased blood cell counts and cholinesterase activity, relative to matched controls. These changes are potentially linked to occupational pesticide exposures. Improving PPE use presents a likely route for preventive intervention in this population.
评估泰国北部农业工人接触农药的情况，并了解由此产生的健康影响。
这是一项横断面研究。我们通过空气采样和液相色谱/质谱法对包括毒死蜱、灭多威和甲霜灵在内的农药接触情况进行了量化。我们估计了农场工人与对照工人在基线时，以及仅农场工人在农药喷洒后自我报告的健康结果、全血细胞计数、胆碱酯酶活性以及血清/尿液钙和肌酐浓度的差异。
本研究纳入了97名年龄在22至76岁之间的男性；70名是传统农场工人；27名未报告任何先前的农场工作或农药喷洒经历。没有一名农场工人为他们所接触的浓缩化学品佩戴标准化个人防护装备（PPE）。通过个人空气采样检测到了灭多威（8.4 - 13481.9纳克/立方米）、乙基毒死蜱（11.6 - 67759纳克/立方米）和甲霜灵（13.9 - 41191.3纳克/立方米）。在报告处理个人问题的能力信心方面，只有43%的农场工人表示有信心，这表明与78%的对照工人相比，农场工人的压力水平更高（P = 0.028）。与对照工人相比，农场工人的单核细胞计数（P = 0.01）、血清钙（P = 0.01）、红细胞计数（P = 0.01）、白细胞计数（P = 0.04）和丁酰胆碱酯酶活性（P < 0.0001）也显著较低。在调整体重指数（BMI）、年龄和吸烟因素后，灭多威空气浓度与农场工人乙酰胆碱酯酶活性降低有关（β = -0.327，P = 0.016）。
与匹配的对照组相比，这群农场工人在压力指标和临床生物标志物方面有显著改变，包括血细胞计数和胆碱酯酶活性降低。这些变化可能与职业性农药接触有关。改善个人防护装备的使用是对这群人进行预防性干预的一个可能途径。
