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Characterizing exposures and neurobehavioral performance in Egyptian adolescent pesticide applicators

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Abstract

Children and adolescents may have occupational exposure to pesticides. Although previous studies examining prenatal pesticide exposure have identified neurobehavioral deficits in children, there are limited studies examining the impact of occupational exposure in children. The objectives of this study are to estimate exposures to the organophosphorus pesticide, chlorpyrifos (CPF), by measuring urinary levels of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy), a specific CPF metabolite, and blood cholinesterase (ChE) activities and to characterize neurobehavioral performance in adolescents working as seasonal pesticide applicators and non-applicator controls. A neurobehavioral test battery, consisting of 14 tests, was used to assess a broad range of functions. Applicators performed worse than controls on the majority of tests. Principal component analysis was used to reduce the number of outcome variables and two components, focused on reasoning-short-term memory and attention-executive functioning, showed significant deficits in applicators compared to non-applicators. Elevated metabolite levels were found in the applicators compared to the non-applicators, confirming CPF exposure in the applicators. Although this study is limited by a small sample size, it provides preliminary evidence of moderate CPF exposures, decreased blood ChE in some applicators and decreased neurobehavioral performance in an adolescent working population.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and the adolescents for their participation, the Research Team at Menoufia University and Barbara McGarrigle for the urinary TCPy analytical work. The work was supported by the Fogarty International Center and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R21 ES017223 and R01 ES022163).

Conflict of interest

OHSU and Dr. Rohlman have a significant financial interest in Northwest Education Training and Assessment, LLC, a company that may have a commercial interest in the results of this research and technology. This potential conflict of interest was reviewed and a management plan approved by the OHSU Conflict of Interest in Research Committee was implemented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa CIty, IA, USA

    Diane Schertler Rohlman

  2. Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Diane Schertler Rohlman & Michael Lasarev

  3. Community Medicine and Public Health Department, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt

    Ahmed A. Ismail & Gaafar Abdel-Rasoul

  4. Clinical Pathology and Hematology and Immunology, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt

    Olfat Hendy

  5. Department of Social and Preventative Medicine, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    James R. Olson

  6. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    James R. Olson

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  1. Diane Schertler Rohlman
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  2. Ahmed A. Ismail
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  3. Gaafar Abdel-Rasoul
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  4. Michael Lasarev
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  5. Olfat Hendy
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  6. James R. Olson
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Correspondence to Diane Schertler Rohlman.

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Rohlman, D.S., Ismail, A.A., Abdel-Rasoul, G. et al. Characterizing exposures and neurobehavioral performance in Egyptian adolescent pesticide applicators. Metab Brain Dis 29, 845–855 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-014-9565-9

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