title: Pesticide poisoning and neurobehavioral function among farm workers in Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
abstract: Pesticides remain an integral part of agricultural activities worldwide. Although there have been a number of studies over the last two decades concerning the adverse effects of pesticide poisoning and chronic long term exposures on neurobehavioral function, the impact of recent pesticide poisoning and long term pesticide exposure on neurobehavioral function in Chinese farm workers has not been reported. China is the largest user of pesticides worldwide and figures suggest 53,300-123,000 Chinese people are poisoned every year. A case control study was conducted to examine the impact of recent pesticide poisoning on neurobehavioral function and the relationship between years worked in agriculture and lower performance on neurobehavioral tests. A total of 121 farm workers who self-reported recent pesticide poisonings within the previous 12 months (case group) and 80 farm workers who reported no pesticide poisoning in the previous 12 months (control group) were recruited from three areas of Jiangsu Province, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended neurobehavioral core test battery (NCTB) was used to assess neurobehavioral functioning among cases and controls. Student's t tests and two-way covariance analysis (ANCOVA) were used to test for significant differences in the neurobehavioral test results between the groups. Scores on the Profile of Mood States (POMS) in the recently poisoned group were significantly higher for anger-hostility, depression-dejection, tension-anxiety and lower for vigor-activity compared to controls (p < .05). Digit span, digit symbol, Benton visual retention and pursuit aiming scores were all significantly lower among the recently poisoned group compared to the controls (p < .05). Two-way ANCOVA indicated significantly lower performance in correct pursuit aiming and higher error pursuit aiming amongst the recently poisoned group and those who had worked for more than 30 years in agriculture (p < .05). These findings provide important preliminary epidemiological evidence regarding the association between occupational pesticide exposure and neurobehavioral functioning in Chinese farm workers.
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Research Institute, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Electronic address: xjzhang@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xujun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Office of Epidemiology, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Yixing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Yaming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Injury Prevention Research Institute, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Mengjing
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Nanchang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanchang, Jiangsu Province, China.
authors.forename: Zhibin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.affiliation: Colorado Injury Control Research Center, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Lorann
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stallones
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Research and Policy and Center for Pediatric Trauma Research, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Huiyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000786:Anger / Q000187:drug effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D000067565:Farmers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000506:poisoning*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides
keywords: NCTB; Neurobehavioral function; Neurotoxicity; Occupational poisoning; Pesticide poisoning