Nested case-control analysis of high pesticide exposure events from the Agricultural Health Study

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 r andomly chosen from the AHS cohort (six per 1,000 farmer applicators per ye ar) met our definition of an HPEE, by reporting "an incident with fertilize rs, weed killers, or other pesticides that caused an unusually high persona l exposure" resulting in physical symptoms or a visit to a health care prov ider or hospital. Eligibility criteria were met by 25 HPEE cases and 603 ra ndomly selected controls. Results Significant risk factors for an HPEE included: poor financial condi tion of the farm which limited the pur-chase of rollover protective structu res 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 nonsignificant factors were also identified. Conclusions The limited statistical power of this study necessitates replic ation of these analyses with a larger sample. Nonetheless, the observed ele vated odds ratios of an HPEE provide hypotheses for future studies that may lead to preventive action. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:557-563, 2001. (C) 2001 Wil ey-Liss, Inc.