Efeitos da exposição a agrotóxicos sobre o sistema auditivo periférico e central: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

The World Health Organization reports a total of 3 million annual cases of acute pesticide poisoning (2.1 million cases in the developing countries alone). Pesticide use has reached alarming proportions in Brazil in the last decade. Pesticide sales skyrocketed from 2001 to 2008, making Brazil the world's leading consumer of poisons. This study aimed to assess whether pesticide exposure causes peripheral or central auditory disorders and thus focused on the importance of hearing tests in populations with acute or chronic exposure. This was a systematic review of studies on the effects of pesticide exposure on the auditory system. The context and methodological quality of the full texts were analyzed. The review identified 143 studies on the theme, 16 of which met the inclusion criteria. All articles showed that pesticide exposure is ototoxic and leads to hearing loss.

Effects of subchronic inhalation exposure to an organophosphorus insecticide compound containing dichlorvos on wistar rats’ otoacoustic emissions

“…This fact suggests that levels of exposure to DBOI that do not cause significant enzymatic inhibition have ototoxic effect. Although studies have suggested the association between auditory damage and exposure to pesticides, 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 15 , 16 the current regulatory norm in Brazil 29 (NR7) do not specify reference and sequential auditory exams for workers exposed to chemical agents, and the exposition to pesticides is evaluated by tests such as cholinesterase level. However, our results indicate that – even without alteration in cholinesterase levels – there was ototoxicity due to exposure to DBOI.…”

“…According to the literature, exposure to pesticides may cause alterations in human hearing. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 Auditory injury is often due to several factors 7 and, when it occurs occupationally in the primary sector of the economy, it may be related primarily to two factors: exposure to ototoxic chemicals, such as solvents and pesticides, as well as noise from agricultural machinery. The hearing loss due to ototoxic drugs’ exposure is similar to the one that occurs at high sound pressure levels, being sensory-neural, bilateral, symmetrical, irreversible, at high frequencies and damaging to the hair cells of the cochlea.…”

Effects of Noise Associated with Pesticides in the Hearing and Vestibular Systems of Endemic Disease Combat Agents

“…Such a change is caused by the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase, which in turn leads to an accumulation of acetylcholine in the peripheral and central auditory pathways [1][2][3][4], affecting the action potential of the efferent system from the superior olivary nucleus to the cochlea [3,5,6]. This way, in humans the exposure to pesticides including organophosphate and/or pyrethroid, either alone or in combination with noise, damages the peripheral auditory system [7][8][9][10] and the central auditory functions [3,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] as well as vestibular function [8,10,21].…”

Findings on the Central Auditory Functions of Endemic Disease Control Agents

“…Studies in humans reveal that pesticides, either alone or in combination with noise, damage not only the peripheral auditory system [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ], but also the central auditory system [ 8 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”