Pesticide exposure and self-reported incident depression among wives in the Agricultural Health Study

John D Beard; Jane A Hoppin; Marie Richards; Michael C.R Alavanja; Aaron Blair; Dale P Sandler; Freya Kamel; Agricultural Health Study

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2013.06.001

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Pesticide exposure and self-reported incident depression among wives in the Agricultural Health Study

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Pesticide exposure and self-reported incident depression among wives in the Agricultural Health Study

John D Beard, Jane A Hoppin, Marie Richards, Michael C.R Alavanja, Aaron Blair, Dale P Sandler, Freya Kamel and Agricultural Health Study

Environmental research, Vol.126, pp.31-42

10/2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2013.06.001

PMCID: PMC3805780

PMID: 23916637

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/3805780View

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Abstract

Depression in women is a public health problem. Studies have reported positive associations between pesticides and depression, but few studies were prospective or presented results for women separately. We evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and incident depression among farmers’ wives in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective cohort study in Iowa and North Carolina. We used data on 16,893 wives who did not report physician-diagnosed depression at enrollment (1993–1997) and who completed a follow-up telephone interview (2005–2010). Among these wives, 1054 reported physician diagnoses of depression at follow-up. We collected information on potential confounders and on ever use of any pesticide, 11 functional and chemical classes of pesticides, and 50 specific pesticides by wives and their husbands via self-administered questionnaires at enrollment. We used inverse probability weighting to adjust for potential confounders and to account for possible selection bias induced by the death or loss of 10,639 wives during follow-up. We used log-binomial regression models to estimate risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals. After weighting for age at enrollment, state of residence, education level, diabetes diagnosis, and drop out, wives’ incident depression was positively associated with diagnosed pesticide poisoning, but was not associated with ever using any pesticide. Use of individual pesticides or functional or chemical classes of pesticides was generally not associated with wives’ depression. Among wives who never used pesticides, husbands’ ever use of individual pesticides or functional or chemical classes of pesticides was generally not associated with wives’ incident depression. Our study adds further evidence that high level pesticide exposure, such as pesticide poisoning, is associated with increased risk of depression and sets a lower bound on the level of exposure related to depression, thereby providing reassurance that the moderate levels of pesticide exposure experienced by farmers’ wives likely do not increase risk. •A few small, prospective studies exist of pesticide use and depression among women.•We used data on 16,893 farmers’ wives in the Agricultural Health Study.•We evaluated associations between use of 50 pesticides and incident depression.•Depression was not associated with ever use of individual or classes of pesticides.•Depression was positively associated with physician-diagnosed pesticide poisoning.

Pesticides

Depression

Female

Incidence

Spouses

Details

Title: Subtitle: Pesticide exposure and self-reported incident depression among wives in the Agricultural Health Study
Creators: John D Beard - Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Jane A Hoppin - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Marie Richards - Westat, Inc., Durham, NC, USA
Michael C.R Alavanja - Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, USA
Aaron Blair - Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD, USA
Dale P Sandler - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Freya Kamel - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Agricultural Health Study
Contributors: Charles F Lynch (Contributor) - University of Iowa, Epidemiology
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Environmental research, Vol.126, pp.31-42
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2013.06.001
PMID: 23916637
PMCID: PMC3805780
NLM abbreviation: Environ Res
ISSN: 0013-9351
eISSN: 1096-0953
Publisher: Elsevier Inc
Grant note: name: Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health; DOI: 10.13039/100000066, name: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), award: Z01ES049030; DOI: 10.13039/100000054, name: National Cancer Institute, award: Z01CP044008; name: NIEHS Training, award: T32ES007018
Language: English
Date published: 10/2013
Academic Unit: Epidemiology
Record Identifier: 9984214939702771

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