Background and aim

To date, few studies have focused on the health effects of pesticide exposure among avocado farmworkers. We examined the association of exposure to insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides with cognitive and mental health outcomes among these avocado workers from Michoacan, Mexico.

Materials and methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 105 avocado farmworkers between May and August 2021. We collected data on self-reported pesticide use during the 12 months prior to the baseline survey and estimated annual exposure-intensity scores (EIS) using a semi-quantitative exposure algorithm. We calculated specific gravity adjusted average concentrations of 12 insecticide, fungicide, or herbicide metabolites measured in urine samples collected during two study visits (8–10 weeks apart). We assessed participants’ cognitive function and psychological distress using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery and the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), respectively. We examined individual associations of EIS and urinary pesticide metabolites with neurobehavioral outcomes using generalized linear regression models. We also implemented Bayesian Weighted Quantile Sum (BWQS) regression to evaluate the association between a pesticide metabolite mixture and neurobehavioral outcomes.

Results

In individual models, after adjusting for multiple comparisons, higher concentrations of hydroxy-tebuconazole (OH-TEB, metabolite of fungicide tebuconazole) were associated with higher anxiety (IRR per two-fold increase in concentrations = 1.26, 95% CI:1.08, 1.48) and Global Severity Index (GSI) (IRR = 1.89, 95% CI:1.36, 2.75) scores, whereas higher concentrations of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy, metabolite of chlorpyrifos) were associated with lower GSI scores (IRR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.56, 0.85). In BWQS analyses, we found evidence of a mixture association of urinary pesticide metabolites with higher anxiety (IRR = 1.72, 95% CrI: 1.12, 2.55), depression (IRR = 4.60, 95% CrI: 2.19, 9.43), and GSI (IRR = 1.99, 95% CrI: 1.39, 2.79) scores. OH-TEB and hydroxy-thiabendazole (metabolite of fungicide thiabendazole) combined contributed 54%, 40%, and 54% to the mixture effect in the anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and overall psychological distress models, respectively.

Conclusions

We found that exposure to tebuconazole and thiabendazole, fungicides whose effects have been rarely studied in humans, may be associated with increased psychological distress among avocado farmworkers. We also observed that exposure to chlorpyrifos may be associated with decreased psychological distress.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥鳄梨农场工人农药暴露与神经行为结果的关系

背景和目的

迄今为止，很少有研究关注鳄梨农场工人接触农药对健康的影响。我们研究了来自墨西哥米却肯州的鳄梨工人接触杀虫剂、杀菌剂和除草剂与认知和心理健康结果的关系。

材料和方法

我们在 2021 年 5 月至 8 月期间对 105 名鳄梨农场工人进行了一项横断面研究。我们收集了基线调查前 12 个月内自我报告的农药使用数据，并使用半定量方法估计了年度暴露强度得分 (EIS)。曝光算法。我们计算了两次研究访问期间（相隔 8-10 周）收集的尿液样本中测量的 12 种杀虫剂、杀菌剂或除草剂代谢物的比重调整平均浓度。我们分别使用 NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery 和 Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18) 评估了参与者的认知功能和心理困扰。我们使用广义线性回归模型检查了 EIS 和尿农药代谢物与神经行为结果的个体关联。我们还实施了贝叶斯加权分位数和 (BWQS) 回归来评估农药代谢物混合物与神经行为结果之间的关联。

结果

在个体模型中，经过多重比较调整后，较高浓度的羟基戊唑醇（OH-TEB，杀菌剂戊唑醇的代谢物）与较高的焦虑程度相关（浓度每增加两倍，IRR = 1.26，95% CI：1.08，1.48 ）和全球严重性指数（GSI）（IRR = 1.89，95% CI：1.36，2.75）得分，而较高浓度的 3,5,6-三氯-2-吡啶醇（TCPy，毒死蜱的代谢物）与较低的 GSI 相关分数（IRR = 0.69，95% CI：0.56，0.85）。在 BWQS 分析中，我们发现尿农药代谢物与较高焦虑（IRR = 1.72，95% CrI：1.12，2.55）、抑郁（IRR = 4.60，95% CrI：2.19，9.43）和 GSI 存在混合关联的证据（ IRR = 1.99，95% CrI：1.39，2.79）分数。OH-TEB 和羟基噻菌灵（杀菌剂噻菌灵的代谢物）合计对焦虑症状、抑郁症状和整体心理困扰模型的混合效应分别贡献 54%、40% 和 54%。

结论

我们发现，接触戊唑醇和噻苯达唑这两种杀菌剂的效果很少在人类中进行研究，可能与牛油果农场工人的心理困扰增加有关。我们还观察到，接触毒死蜱可能与减少心理困扰有关。