Neuropsychologic effects of long-term exposure to pesticides: Results fromthe French Phytoner study

The Phytoner study investigated a possible association between neuropsychol ogic performances and long-term exposure to pesticides in Bordeaux vineyard workers, most of whom use fungicides. Among the 917 subjects interviewed f rom February 1997 to August 1998, 528 were directly exposed to pesticides t hrough mixing and/or spraying (mean exposure duration: 22 years), 173 were indirectly exposed through contact with treated plants, and 216 were never exposed. All subjects performed neuropsychologic tests administered at home by trained psychologists. The risk of scoring a low performance on the tes ts was constantly higher in exposed subjects. When taking into account educ ational level, age, sex, alcohol consumption, smoking, environmental exposu res, and depressive symptoms and when restricting analysis to subgroups, re sults remained significant for most tests, with odds ratios (OR) exceeding 2. These results point to long-term cognitive effects of low-level exposure to pesticides in occupational conditions. Given the frequency of pesticide use and the potential disabilities resulting from cognitive impairments, f urther toxicologic and epidemiologic research is needed to confirm these re sults and assess the impact on public health.