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Nested case‐control analysis of high pesticide exposure events from the Agricultural Health Study
Author(s) -
Alavanja Michael C. R.,
Sprince Nancy L.,
Oliver Eugene,
Whitten Paul,
Lynch Charles F.,
Gillette Patricia P.,
LogsdenSacket Nyla,
Zwerling Craig
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.1054
Subject(s) - medicine , nested case control study , environmental health , odds ratio , agriculture , odds , pesticide , rollover (web design) , logistic regression , ecology , world wide web , computer science , agronomy , biology
Background A nested case‐control analysis of high pesticide exposure events (HPEEs) was conducted using the Iowa farmers enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS). Methods In the 12 months of the study, 36 of the 5,970 farmer applicators randomly chosen from the AHS cohort (six per 1,000 farmer applicators per year) met our definition of an HPEE, by reporting “an incident with fertilizers, weed killers, or other pesticides that caused an unusually high personal exposure” resulting in physical symptoms or a visit to a health care provider or hospital. Eligibility criteria were met by 25 HPEE cases and 603 randomly selected controls. Results Significant risk factors for an HPEE included: poor financial condition of the farm which limited the purchase of rollover protective structures OR = 4.6 (1.5–16.6), and having a high score on a risk acceptance scale OR = 3.8 (1.4–11.2). Other non‐significant factors were also identified. Conclusions The limited statistical power of this study necessitates replication of these analyses with a larger sample. Nonetheless, the observed elevated odds ratios of an HPEE provide hypotheses for future studies that may lead to preventive action. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:557–563, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.