Journal article
Suicide and Pesticide Use among Pesticide Applicators and Their Spouses in the Agricultural Health Study
Environmental health perspectives, Vol.119(11), pp.1610-1615
2011
DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1103413
PMCID: PMC3226500
PMID: 21749962
Abstract
Background: An association may exist between pesticide exposure and suicide.
Objective: We sought to evaluate the existence of an association between pesticide use and suicide using data from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a prospective cohort study of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina.
Methods: Via linkage to state mortality files and the National Death Index, we identified 110 suicides occurring between enrollment in the AHS (from 1993 to 1997) and 31 May 2009, among 81,998 cohort members contributing 1,092,943 person-years of follow-up. The average length of follow-up was 13.3 years. AHS participants provided data on pesticide use and potential confounders via self-administered questionnaires at enrollment. We evaluated several measures of pesticide use: use of any pesticide, ever use of 50 specific pesticides, cumulative lifetime days of use and intensity-adjusted cumulative lifetime days of use of 22 specific pesticides, and ever use of 10 functional and chemical classes of pesticides. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals.
Results: After adjusting for age at enrollment, sex, number of children in family, frequency of alcohol consumption during the past 12 months, and smoking status, we found no association between prior pesticide use and suicide in applicators and their spouses. Results were the same for applicators and spouses together or for applicators alone and were consistent across several measures of pesticide use.
Conclusions: Our findings do not support an association between moderate pesticide use and suicide.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Suicide and Pesticide Use among Pesticide Applicators and Their Spouses in the Agricultural Health Study
- Creators
- John D Beard - Department of Health Science, College of Life Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United StatesDavid M Umbach - Biostatistics Branch, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United StatesJane A Hoppin - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United StatesMarie Richards - Westat, Durham, North Carolina, United StatesMichael C. R Alavanja - Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, United StatesAaron Blair - Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland, United StatesDale P Sandler - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United StatesFreya Kamel - Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United StatesAgricultural Health Study
- Contributors
- Charles F Lynch (Contributor) - University of Iowa, Epidemiology
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Environmental health perspectives, Vol.119(11), pp.1610-1615
- Publisher
- US Department of Health and Human Services
- DOI
- 10.1289/ehp.1103413
- PMID
- 21749962
- PMCID
- PMC3226500
- ISSN
- 0091-6765
- eISSN
- 1552-9924
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2011
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984214677202771
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