Incident Diabetes and Pesticide Exposure among Licensed Pesticide Applicators: Agricultural Health Study 1993 – 2003

摘要

Exposure to certain environmental toxicants may be associated with increased risk of developing diabetes. Our aim was to investigate the relationship between lifetime exposure to specific agricultural pesticides and diabetes incidence among pesticide applicators. The study included 33,457 licensed applicators, predominantly non-Hispanic white males, enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study. Incident diabetes was self-reported in a 5-year follow-up interview (1999–2003), giving 1,176 diabetics and 30,611 non-diabetics for analysis. Lifetime exposure to pesticides and covariate information was reported by participants at enrollment (1993–1997). Using logistic regression, we considered two primary measures of pesticide exposure: ever use and cumulative lifetime days of use. We found seven specific pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine) for which the odds of diabetes incidence increased with both ever use and cumulative days of use. Applicators who had used the organochlorine insecticides aldrin, chlordane, and heptachlor more than 100 lifetime days had 51%, 63%, and 94% increased odds of diabetes, respectively. The observed association of organochlorine and organophosphate insecticides with diabetes is consistent with previous human and animal studies. Long-term exposure from handling certain pesticides, in particular organochlorine and organophosphate insecticides, may be associated with increased risk of diabetes.