Major Birth Defects among Offspring of Iowa Agricultural Health Study Applicators
Year: 2019
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: TPS 741: Adverse birth outcomes 2, Exhibition Hall, Ground floor, August 28, 2019, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Background/Aim: Studies of parental pesticide exposure continue to raise concerns about potential pesticide teratogenicity; however, findings to date are equivocal, owed in part to several study limitations. To address these limitations, we investigated major birth defects among offspring of Iowans enrolled in the United States Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a prospective study of health effects among pesticide applicators and their spouses. Methods: We linked applicator and spouse data from the AHS with Iowa birth data (1972-2014) and identified 42,460 liveborn offspring, including 24,256 born from 1983-2010. Data for these 24,256 offspring were linked with surveillance data from the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders. We investigated relations between paternal application of 121 pesticides shortly before or during the index pregnancy and 9 birth defect groups in offspring. Associations were estimated for defect groups with ≥5 exposed offspring compared to offspring of unexposed applicators per pesticide, adjusting for relevant covariables. Results: We identified 400 (1.6%) of the 24,256 offspring to have a major birth defect with heart, genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal defects most frequently observed in our cohort. Overall, 32 of the 121 pesticides had ≥5 exposed offspring in a case group. We observed positive associations (adjusted odds ratios 1.5-3.0) for 34 pesticide-case group combinations. Eight pesticides produced positive associations in two or more case groups and included: S-Ethyl-Dipropylthiocarbamate (craniofacial, gastrointestinal); petroleum oil/distillates (craniofacial, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal); pendimethalin (craniofacial, musculoskeletal); permethrin (craniofacial, genitourinary, heart, musculoskeletal); terbufos (craniofacial, musculoskeletal); carbofuran (craniofacial, genitourinary, musculoskeletal); carbaryl (craniofacial, musculoskeletal); and coumaphos (genitourinary, musculoskeletal). Conclusions: Although limited to liveborns, our findings from this large cohort suggest that paternal application of several pesticides shortly before or during early pregnancy contributed to an increased risk of major birth defects, particularly craniofacial, musculoskeletal, and genitourinary defects. Future work will investigate major birth defects among pregnancy losses and terminations.
Source: Environmental Epidemiology
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,200
OpenAlex ID: W2982064308