Distribution and determinants of urinary biomarkers of exposure to organophosphate insecticides in Puerto Rican pregnant women

Abstract

Globally, human exposures to organophosphate (OP) insecticides may pose a significant burden to the health of mothers and their developing fetuses. Unfortunately, relevant data is limited in certain areas of the world concerning sources of exposure to OP insecticides in pregnant populations. To begin to address this gap in information for Puerto Rico, we studied repeated measures of urinary concentrations of 10 OP insecticide metabolites among 54 pregnant women from the northern karst region of the island. We also collected demographic data and self-reported information on the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and legumes in the past 48-hr before urine collection and home pest-related issues. We calculated the distributions of the urinary biomarkers and compared them to women of reproductive age from the general U.S. population. We also used statistical models accounting for correlated data to assess within-subject temporal variability of the urinary biomarkers and to identify predictors of exposure. We found that for all but two metabolites (para-nitrophenol [PNP], diethylthiophosphate [DETP]), 50th or 95th percentile urinary concentrations (the metric that was used for comparison was based on the biomarker’s detection frequency) of the other eight metabolites (3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol [TCPY], 2-isopropyl-4-methyl-6-hydroxy-pyrimidine, malathion dicarboxylic acid, diethylphosphate, diethyldithiophosphate, dimethylphosphate, dimethylthiophosphate [DMTP], dimethyldithiophosphate) were somewhat lower in our cohort compared with similarly aged women from the continental United States. TCPY, PNP, DETP, and DMTP, which were the only urinary metabolites detected in greater than 50% of the samples, had poor reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient range: 0.19–0.28) during pregnancy. Positive predictors of OP insecticide exposure included: age; marital or employment status; consumption of cherries, grape juice, peanuts, peanut butter, or raisins; and residential application of pesticides. Further research is needed to understand what aspects of the predictors identified influence OP insecticide exposure during pregnancy.

Urinary metabolites of organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in children from an Italian cohort (PHIME, Trieste)

“…Diet has been identified as the primary source of exposure in the general population (Becker et al, 2006;McKone et al, 2007). Several studies have recently investigated the influence of various foods and food groups (Fortes et al, 2013;Lewis et al, 2015;Jardim et al, 2018). When OPs and PYR enter human body, they are metabolized and then excreted in the urine, either in free form or bound to glucoronic acid or sulfates (Barr, 2008).…”

Determinants of organophosphate pesticide exposure in pregnant women: A population-based cohort study in the Netherlands

“…Several studies investigating prenatal OP pesticides exposure have observed that maternal characteristics, such as education, smoking, social economic status (SES), body mass index (BMI), and diet (especially the consumption of fruits and vegetables) are associated with DAP metabolite concentrations in urine (Lewis et al, 2015; Llop et al, 2017; Sokoloff et al, 2016; Yolton et al, 2013). This was confirmed in two pilot studies in the Netherlands, both embedded in the Generation R Study.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge only one study with a large sample size have jointly tested the different determinants of DAP metabolite concentrations to investigate what the main source of OP pesticides exposure in pregnant women is (Llop et al, 2017). In contrast, most other studies relating dietary intake and other determinants to DAP metabolite concentrations used bivariate models wherein each possible predictor was tested separately (Lewis et al, 2015; Sokoloff et al, 2016; Yolton et al, 2013). Moreover, several studies, including our pilot study, investigated only broad food group categories (e.g., fruit) (Spaan et al, 2015; Yolton et al, 2013) while few studies explored specific food items (e.g., apples) (Llop et al, 2017; Sokoloff et al, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, several studies, including our pilot study, investigated only broad food group categories (e.g., fruit) (Spaan et al, 2015; Yolton et al, 2013) while few studies explored specific food items (e.g., apples) (Llop et al, 2017; Sokoloff et al, 2016). The sample size of most studies limited the ability to test specific determinants of DAP metabolite concentrations (Lewis et al, 2015; Spaan et al, 2015; Yolton et al, 2013). It therefore, remains unclear which determinants, food groups and corresponding food items contribute most to the exposure.…”

Exposición a plaguicidas y prácticas de uso y protección en embarazadas de zona rurales en control de atención primaria en la región de Valparaíso, Chile

“…Algunos estudios recientes llaman la atención sobre la falta de estudios que determinen la exposición a plaguicidas en poblaciones de riesgo como las mujeres embarazadas (3,4,5), situación que también se repite en Chile.…”