Chemical Predictors of Wheeze among Farmer Pesticide  Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study

Hoppin, Jane A.; Umbach, David M.; London, Stephanie J.; Alavanja, Michael C.R.; Sandler, Dale P.

doi:10.1164/ajrccm.165.5.2106074

Cited by 210 publications

(180 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

170

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The prevalence of adult-onset asthma in our study is similar to that reported for current asthma among California farmers (2.7%) (33) and Norwegian farmers (3.7%) (34). Atopy was defined as a history of doctordiagnosed eczema or hay fever; we (4,35,36) and others (37) have previously used similar questionnaire-based definitions for atopy. We created the two case groups based on responses to three questions (asthma, eczema, and hay fever) in a manner similar to that of Upton and colleagues, who used asthma with and without hay fever to define atopic and nonatopic asthma among adults (37).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Pesticides and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma among Farm Women in the Agricultural Health Study

Hoppin

Umbach²,

London³

et al. 2008

Am J Respir Crit Care Med

146

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rationale: Risk factors for asthma among farm women are understudied. Objectives: We evaluated pesticide and other occupational exposures as risk factors for adult-onset asthma. Methods: Studying 25,814 farm women in the Agricultural Health Study, we used self-reported history of doctor-diagnosed asthma with or without eczema and/or hay fever to create two case groups: patients with atopic asthma and those with nonatopic asthma. We assessed disease-exposure associations with polytomous logistic regression. Measurements and Main Results: At enrollment (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997), 702 women (2.7%) reported a doctor's diagnosis of asthma after age 19 years (282 atopic, 420 nonatopic). Growing up on a farm (61% of all farm women) was protective for atopic asthma (odds ratio [OR], 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.70) and, to a lesser extent, for nonatopic asthma (OR, 0.83; 95%CI, 0.68-1.02; P value for difference 5 0.008). Pesticide use was almost exclusively associated with atopic asthma. Any use of pesticides on the farm was associated only with atopic asthma (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.14-1.87). This association with pesticides was strongest among women who had grown up on a farm. Women who grew up on farms and did not apply pesticides had the lowest overall risk of atopic asthma (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.27-0.62) compared with women who neither grew up on farms nor applied pesticides. A total of 7 of 16 insecticides, 2 of 11 herbicides, and 1 of 4 fungicides were significantly associated with atopic asthma; only permethrin use on crops was associated with nonatopic asthma. Conclusions: These findings suggest that pesticides may contribute to atopic asthma, but not nonatopic asthma, among farm women.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Pesticides and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma among Farm Women in the Agricultural Health Study

Hoppin

Umbach²,

London³

et al. 2008

Am J Respir Crit Care Med

146

113

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…19,[28][29][30] The AHS cohort consists of licensed pesticide applicators who are responsible for a thorough understanding of pesticide regulations and for the purchase and application of chemicals. 31 Recall of pesticide use by the AHS cohort has been shown to be consistent with the dates these pesticides came onto the market. 31 Comprehensive questionnaire data was used to quantify metolachlor exposure levels, providing discrimination between high and low exposures, rather than defining exposure as Ôever usedÕ metolachlor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Cancer incidence among pesticide applicators exposed to metolachlor in the Agricultural Health Study

Rusiecki

Hou

Lee

et al. 2006

Intl Journal of Cancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Metolachlor is one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. We evaluated the incidence of cancer among pesticide applicators exposed to metolachlor in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective cohort study of licensed pesticide applicators in Iowa and North Carolina. A total of 50,193 pesticide applicators were included. Detailed information on pesticide exposure and lifestyle factors was obtained from self-administered enrollment questionnaires completed between 1993 and 1997; average length of follow-up was 7.33 years. Two metolachlor exposure metrics were used : (i) lifetime days personally mixed or applied metolachlor and (ii) intensity-weighted lifetime days (lifetime days 3 an intensity level). Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for cancer subtypes by tertiles of metolachlor exposure. No clear risk for any cancer subtype was found for exposure to metolachlor. A significantly decreased RR was found for prostate cancer in the highest category of lifetime days exposure (RR 5 0.59; 95%CI, 0.39-0.89) and in the second highest category of intensity-weighted lifetime days exposure (RR 5 0.66; 95%CI, 0.45-0.97); however, the test for trend was not significant for either exposure metric. A nonsignificantly increased risk was found for lung cancer with lifetime days exposure in the highest category (RR 5 2.37; 95%CI, 0.97-5.82, p-trend 5 0.03) but not with intensity-weighted lifetime days. Given the widespread use of metolachlor and the frequent detection of metolachlor in both surface and ground water, future analyses of the AHS will allow further examination of long-term health effects, including lung cancer and the less common cancers. ' 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

show abstract

“…32 Associations between asthma and use of cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides were observed among Canadian farmers 33 and U.S. pesticide applicators. 34 The strengths of our pooled study are a population-based design, high response rates and detailed information on pesticide use and potential etiologic factors for NHL. The relatively large sample size facilitated the simultaneous evaluation of asthma and pesticide use but was still not enough to carefully evaluate individual pesticides and asthma in relation to NHL.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma among asthmatics exposed to pesticides

Lee

Cantor

Berzofsky

et al. 2004

Intl Journal of Cancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We conducted a pooled analysis of population-based casecontrol studies in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska to investigate whether asthma modifies risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) associated with pesticide exposures. Cases (n ‫؍‬ 872) diagnosed with NHL from 1980 to 1986 and frequency-matched controls (n ‫؍‬ 2,381) randomly selected from the same geographic areas as the cases were included. Information on use of pesticides and history of asthma was based on interviews. Unconditional logistic regression was used to calculate ORs, adjusted for age, state and vital status. Of all subjects, 177 (45 cases, 132 controls) reported having been told by their doctor that they had asthma. Subjects with an asthma history had a nonsignificantly lower risk of NHL than nonasthmatics (OR ‫؍‬ 0.6, 95% CI 0.3-1.4), and there was no main effect of pesticide exposure (OR ‫؍‬ 1.0, 95% CI 0.8 -1.2). However, asthmatics tended to have larger ORs associated with exposure to pesticides than nonasthmatics. The OR among asthmatics was 1.8 (95% CI 1.1-3.2) for everuse of crop insecticides, 2.7 (95% CI 1.0 -7.2) for chlordane, 2.4 (95% CI 1.0 -5.7) for lindane and 3.7 (95% CI 1.3-10.9) for fonofos. Among nonasthmatics, ORs were 1.1 (0.9 -1.3), 1. Incidence and mortality rates for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) have been increasing worldwide over the past several decades. 1 Although the reasons for this increase are not fully understood, NHL is known to be associated with a compromised immune system, particularly acquired or genetic immunodeficiencies. 2,3 Medical conditions related to more subtle immune alteration, such as asthma and other allergic conditions, have also been studied as potential risk factors for NHL. 4 -10 These reports have described a decreased risk for NHL among persons with a history of asthma or allergies, 4,5 no association 6 -8 or an increase in risk. 9,10 Exposure to pesticides has also been suggested as a possible risk factor for NHL. [11][12][13][14][15] Pesticides may increase cancer risk by altering the immune system. 16 -19 Because both asthma and pesticide exposure may change the risk of NHL by immunologic alterations, we investigated the relation between pesticide exposure, asthma and risk of NHL. MATERIAL AND METHODS Study populationWe pooled data from 2 population-based case-control studies of NHL in 3 midwestern states in the United States, which have been described in detail previously. 20,21 In Iowa and Minnesota, all newly diagnosed cases of NHL among white men aged Ն30 were ascertained from records of the Iowa State Health Registry and a special surveillance system of Minnesota hospitals and pathology laboratories from 1980 to 1983 (n ϭ 530). In Nebraska, all cases of NHL diagnosed between July 1983 and June 1986 among white men and women aged Ն21 in 45 eastern counties were identified through the Nebraska Lymphoma Study Group and area hospitals (n ϭ 346). All cases were reviewed by pathologists, and only histologically confirmed cases were included in this analysis. Controls were randomly selected from ...

show abstract

Chemical Predictors of Wheeze among Farmer Pesticide Applicators in the Agricultural Health Study

Cited by 210 publications

References 30 publications

Pesticides and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma among Farm Women in the Agricultural Health Study

Pesticides and Atopic and Nonatopic Asthma among Farm Women in the Agricultural Health Study

Cancer incidence among pesticide applicators exposed to metolachlor in the Agricultural Health Study

Non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma among asthmatics exposed to pesticides

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About