Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on November 20, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwk024
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
165/4/364    most recent
kwk024v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kamel, F.
Right arrow Articles by Sandler, D. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kamel, F.
Right arrow Articles by Sandler, D. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology Copyright © 2006 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health All rights reserved; printed in U.S.A.
Received December 22, 2005
Accepted July 13, 2006

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Pesticide Exposure and Self-reported Parkinson's Disease in the Agricultural Health Study

F. Kamel 1 *, C. M. Tanner 2, D. M. Umbach 1, J. A. Hoppin 1, M. C. R. Alavanja 3, A. Blair 3, K. Comyns 2, S. M. Goldman 2, M. Korell 2, J. W. Langston 2, G. W. Ross 4, and D. P. Sandler 1

1 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC
2 The Parkinson's Institute, Sunnyvale, CA
3 National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD
4 Pacific Islands VA Health Care System, Honolulu, HI

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
F. Kamel, E-mail: kamel{at}mail.nih.gov


  Abstract

Previous studies based on limited exposure assessment have suggested that Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with pesticide exposure. The authors used data obtained from licensed private pesticide applicators and spouses participating in the Agricultural Health Study to evaluate the relation of self-reported PD to pesticide exposure. Cohort members, who were enrolled in 1993-1997, provided detailed information on lifetime pesticide use. At follow-up in 1999-2003, 68% of the cohort was interviewed. Cases were defined as participants who reported physician-diagnosed PD at enrollment (prevalent cases, n = 83) or follow-up (incident cases, n = 78). Cases were compared with cohort members who did not report PD (n = 79,557 at enrollment and n = 55,931 at follow-up). Incident PD was associated with cumulative days of pesticide use at enrollment (for highest quartile vs. lowest, odds ratio (OR) = 2.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 4.5; p-trend = 0.009), with personally applying pesticides more than half the time (OR = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 0.7, 4.7), and with some specific pesticides (ORs ≥ 1.4). Prevalent PD was not associated with overall pesticide use. This study suggests that exposure to certain pesticides may increase PD risk. Findings for specific chemicals may provide fruitful leads for further investigation.

Keywords: case-control studies; herbicides; insecticides; Parkinson disease; pesticides.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 NeurologyHome page
L. Brighina, R. Frigerio, N. K. Schneider, T. G. Lesnick, M. de Andrade, J. M. Cunningham, M. J. Farrer, S. J. Lincoln, H. Checkoway, W. A. Rocca, et al.
{alpha}-Synuclein, pesticides, and Parkinson disease: A case-control study
Neurology, April 15, 2008; 70(16_Part_2): 1461 - 1469.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.