Persistent organochlorine pesticides in serum and risk of Parkinson disease

Abstract

Background: Pesticides have been implicated as likely environmental risk factors for Parkinson

Epidemiology and etiology of Parkinson’s disease: a review of the evidence

“…Results differed by formulation of exposure (granular versus liquid), highlighting the importance of collecting information on type of pesticide [334]. To date (2010), only one study used prospectively assessed biomarkers [329]. Misclassification of exposure may be differential or non-differential, potentially leading to spurious associations or bias towards the null.…”

“…One nested case-control study [329] analyzed organochlorine pesticides in serum samples collected around 1970, several years before onset of PD. Among never smokers, higher levels of dieldrin was associated with increased risk (OR per interquartile range 1.95, 95% CI 1.26-3.02), but overall, the association was non-significant (OR per interquartile range 1.28 (95% CI 0.97-1.69).…”

“…Among never smokers, higher levels of dieldrin was associated with increased risk (OR per interquartile range 1.95, 95% CI 1.26-3.02), but overall, the association was non-significant (OR per interquartile range 1.28 (95% CI 0.97-1.69). No other organochlorine pesticide was associated with PD risk [329]. Because exposure correlation could not be ruled out, confounding by compounds other than dieldrin that could not be assessed due to their non-persistence is possible.…”

“…Other than the case-control study nested within the Finnish Mobile Clinic Health Examination Survey [329], four prospective studies have investigated the role of pesticides in PD, the largest based on the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort in the US [330]. Exposure to pesticides in general or herbicides was associated with increased risk of PD with a RR of 1.7 (95% CI 1.2-2.3) but no dose-response relationship [330].…”

Herbicides and the Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease

“…For example, higher levels of dieldrin (Corrigan et al, 1998) and lindane (Corrigan et al, 2000) were detected in brain samples taken from PD patients post-mortem. Increasing plasma dieldrin levels were also associated with PD in never smokers (Weisskopf et al, 2010). For a persistent organic pollutant such as dieldrin, this is simple enough, but it may be troublesome for pesticides which break down more rapidly, or do not accumulate.…”