Skip Navigation


Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on July 25, 2007
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(7):505-511; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqm066
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
57/7/505    most recent
kqm066v1
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 ISI Web of Science
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 Solomon, C.
Right arrow Articles by Coggon, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Solomon, C.
Right arrow Articles by Coggon, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Acute symptoms following work with pesticides

Christine Solomon1, Jason Poole1, Keith T. Palmer1, Robert Peveler2 and David Coggon1

1 MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK
2 Clinical Neurosciences Division, University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK

Background Serious accidental poisoning by pesticides is rare in the UK, but more minor pesticide-related illness may be under-reported. Anecdotally, use of sheep dip has been linked with flu-like symptoms.

Aim To explore the frequency, nature and determinants of acute symptoms following work with pesticides.

Methods A postal survey of men in three rural areas of England and Wales provided data on occupational use of five categories of pesticide, occurrence of 12 specified symptoms within 48 h of using pesticides and tendency to somatize. Risk factors for pesticide-related symptoms were assessed by modified Cox regression.

Results Of 10 765 responders (response rate = 31%), 4108 had at some time used pesticides occupationally, including 935 (23%) who reported symptoms following such work on at least one occasion. In two areas, acute symptoms were most frequent following use of sheep dip (29 and 32% of users), but in the third area the rate was significantly lower (13% of users). The relative frequency of symptoms was similar for all five categories of pesticide, and flu-like symptoms did not cluster unusually among users of sheep dip. Risk of pesticide-related symptoms increased with somatizing tendency (prevalence ratio for highest versus lowest category 2.4, 95% confidence interval 2.0–3.0) and was higher in men who had used pesticides most often or handled concentrate.

Conclusion Acute symptoms are common following work with pesticides, but in many cases the illness may arise through psychological rather than toxic mechanisms.

Keywords      Fungicides; herbicides; insecticides; poisoning; psychological; sheep dip; somatization; toxicity

Correspondence to: David Coggon, MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK. Tel: +44 23 80 777624; fax: +44 23 80 704021; e-mail: dnc{at}mrc.soton.ac.uk


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




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.