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Rheumatoid Arthritis in Agricultural Health Study Spouses: Associations with Pesticides and Other Farm Exposures
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Rheumatoid Arthritis in Agricultural Health Study Spouses: Associations with Pesticides and Other Farm Exposures

Christine G. Parks, Jane A. Hoppin, Anneclaire J. De Roos, Karen H. Costenbader, Michael C. Alavanja and Dale P. Sandler
Environmental health perspectives, v 124(11), pp 1728-1734
01 Nov 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP129
PMID: 27285288
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
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Published, Version of Record (VoR)access removed by US government, 1 Dec 2025 Restricted

Abstract

Environmental Sciences & Ecology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology Environmental Science Toxicology
BACKGROUND: Farming has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the role of pesticides is not known. OBJECTIVES: We examined associations between RA and pesticides or other agricultural exposures among female spouses of licensed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. METHODS: Women were enrolled between 1993 and 1997 and followed through 2010. Cases (n=275 total, 132 incident), confirmed by a physician or by self-reported use of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs, were compared with noncases (n=24,018). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using logistic regression models adjusted for age, state, and smoking pack-years. RESULTS: Overall, women with RA were somewhat more likely to have reported lifetime use of any specific pesticide versus no pesticides (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.6). Of the 15 pesticides examined, maneb/mancozeb (OR=3.3; 95% CI: 1.5, 7.1) and glyphosate (OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.0, 2.1) were associated with incident RA compared with no pesticide use. An elevated, but non-statistically significant association with incident RA was seen for DDT (OR=1.9; 95% CI: 0.97, 3.6). Incident RA was also associated with the application of chemical fertilizers (OR=1.7; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.7) and cleaning with solvents (OR=1.6; 95% CI: 1.1, 2.4), but inversely associated with lifetime livestock exposure as a child and adult (OR=0.48; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.97) compared with no livestock exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that specific agricultural pesticides, solvents, and chemical fertilizers may increase the risk of RA in women, while exposures involving animal contact may be protective.

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54 citations in Web of Science
56 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Toxicology
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