title: Neuropsychological effects of long-term exposure to organophosphate pesticides.
abstract: Cholinesterase inhibitors, such as carbamates and organophosphates (OPs), are widely used as insecticides and pesticides and may be stored as biological weapons. The massive use of these products, along with a lack of personal protective equipment on the job, and accidental and intentional ingestions, has produced a great number of poisonings in farmers. A large part of the employment and income in southeastern Spain is concentrated in intensive greenhouse agriculture in which growers are exposed to a varying degree of subsymptomatic doses of a combination of pesticides, mainly OPs and carbamates. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of workers in high-exposure conditions to assess possible neurobehavioral deficits, using a wide array of tasks to test neuropsychological functioning and emotional status. Linear and logistic regression series revealed the importance of the variable "years working with pesticides" as a measure of cumulative exposure for risk of worsened perceptive function performance (odds ratio (OR)=6.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.52-31.51), visuomotor praxis (OR=5.00, 95% CI: 1.22-20.40) and integrative task performance time (OR=4.12, 95% CI: 1.18-14.39) with no relation to plasma cholinesterase activity as a measure of recent exposure. This association was statistically significant after controlling for confounds (age and educational level). The findings showed association of long-term exposure and worse performance in neuropsychological functions, which is interpreted as evidence of a chronic effect of cumulative high exposure to OPs and carbamates.
authors.affiliation: Dpto Neurociencia y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Almería, La Cañada s/n 04120 Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Lola
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roldán-Tapia
authors.forename: Tesifón
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parrón
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Santed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D002219:Carbamates / Q000506:poisoning; D002802:Cholinesterases / Q000097:blood; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D062025:Organophosphate Poisoning; D010575:Pesticides / Q000506:poisoning*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013995:Time; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002219:Carbamates; D010575:Pesticides; D002802:Cholinesterases