title: Congenital limb reduction defects in the agricultural setting.
abstract: To ascertain whether parental involvement in agricultural work and residence in an agricultural setting are associated with the development of congenital limb reduction defects, we carried out a case-control study using California birth records from 1982, 1983, and 1984. Cases with limb reduction defects (N = 237) and randomly selected controls (N = 475) were compared regarding parental occupation and maternal county of residence. After adjustment for potential confounders in a multivariate analysis, the estimated relative risk (RR) of parenting a child with a limb reduction defect among parents involved in agricultural work was 0.9 (95 per cent confidence limits = 0.4, 1.7). The RR among mothers who resided in a county of high agricultural productivity as compared with minimal agricultural productivity was 1.7 (95% CL = 1.1, 2.7), while the RR associated with residence in a county with high pesticide use as compared with minimal pesticide use was 1.9 (95% CL = 1.2, 3.1). When we limited the cases to children with limb reduction defects who had at least one additional anomaly (n = 79) and compared them to the control births, the corresponding RRs were 1.6 (95% CL = 0.7, 3.6), for parental involvement in agricultural work, 2.4 (CL = 1.2, 4.7) for county agricultural productivity, and 3.1 (CL = 1.5, 6.5) for county pesticide use.
authors: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98104.
authors: D A
authors: DA
authors: Schwartz
authors: J P
authors: JP
authors: LoGerfo
mesh_terms: D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000209:etiology; D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000209:etiology; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D002140:California; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D017880:Limb Deformities, Congenital; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations; D010290:Parents; D010575:Pesticides / Q000009:adverse effects; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides