Student Research Committee, Department of Occupational Health and Safety, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Afr Health Sci. 2022 Sep;22(3):681-696. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v22i3.73.
Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are one of the most extensively used chemical compounds all over the world.
The aim of this study is to determine whether occupational exposure of the formulators to the OP pesticides, under normal working conditions, is associated with any hematotoxic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, neurotoxic, and respirotoxic responses among them.
28 OP formulation plant workers and 17 office workers participated in this cross-sectional study as the exposed and control groups, respectively. Blood and urine samples were collected to measure hematological, biochemical, and urinalysis parameters. American thoracic society questionnaire and spirometry tests were employed to assess the function of their respiratory system. Q16 questionnaire was also used to investigate the prevalence of neurobehavioral symptoms. The data were analyzed by SPSS v.22 software using Kolmogorov-Smirnov, T-test, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square, Fisher, Pearson, and Spearman tests.
No statistically significant difference was found in hematological, biochemical, urinalysis (except in specific gravity), spirometry parameters, as well as respiratory and neurobehavioral symptoms between the exposed and the control groups. For the exposed group, however, the means of spirometry parameters were significantly lower among the smokers.
In this study, the expected adverse health effects due to exposure to OP pesticides were not observed among the formulators; however, the risk of developing respiratory dysfunction was found to be more considerable among smoker subjects than the non-smoker ones. Further investigations are required to determine whether formulators' occupational exposures to OP pesticides result in certain adverse health effects.
有机磷（OP）农药是全世界使用最广泛的化学化合物之一。
本研究旨在确定在正常工作条件下，制剂人员接触 OP 农药是否与他们的血液毒性、肝毒性、肾毒性、神经毒性和呼吸毒性反应有关。
28 名 OP 制剂厂工人和 17 名办公室工作人员分别作为暴露组和对照组参加了这项横断面研究。采集血液和尿液样本，以测量血液学、生化和尿液分析参数。采用美国胸科学会问卷和肺量计测试评估他们的呼吸系统功能。还使用 Q16 问卷调查神经行为症状的流行情况。使用 SPSS v.22 软件对数据进行分析，采用 Kolmogorov-Smirnov、T 检验、Mann-Whitney U、卡方、Fisher、Pearson 和 Spearman 检验。
暴露组和对照组之间的血液学、生化、尿液分析（比重除外）、肺量计参数以及呼吸和神经行为症状无统计学差异。然而，对于暴露组，吸烟者的肺量计参数平均值明显较低。
在这项研究中，制剂人员接触 OP 农药并未观察到预期的健康不良影响；然而，吸烟者发生呼吸功能障碍的风险比非吸烟者更高。需要进一步调查，以确定制剂人员职业接触 OP 农药是否会导致某些健康不良影响。
