Grants and Fellowships | 2014
49 Post-Doctoral Fellowships In Utero and Early Childhood Pesticide Exposure and Respiratory Symptoms and Lung Function in Children The causes of chronic respiratory disease are not fully understood. Exposure to environmental pollutants such as air pollution has been linked to chronic pediatric respiratory disease. Although pesticide use is widespread and known to have potential adverse health effects, the contribution of organophosphate pesticides (OPs) to the development of these disorders is not well described. OPs can affect respiratory function by inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. Additionally, recent reports from animal studies show that at doses below those that can cause acetylcholinesterase inhibition, OPs can induce airway hyper-reactivity. This is potentially important for the occurrence and severity of respiratory chronic disease. The project’s main objective was studying the association between prenatal and early childhood exposure to OPs and respiratory symptoms and spirometry measures in the CHAMACOS (The Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas) prospective birth cohort. The CHAMACOS center is aimed at studying the association between exposure to pesticides and other environmental agents and the health of pregnant women and their children. The study followed 526 pregnant women to delivery of a live-born, surviving singleton. Mothers were interviewed twice during pregnancy, after delivery, and six times during childhood. Dialkyl phosphate (DAP) metabolites of OPs were measured in urine samples from mothers, twice during pregnancy, and in urine samples from their children, five times during childhood. The results show that higher prenatal DAP metabolite concentrations in urine were associated with increased odds of respiratory symptoms consistent with possible asthma in the children five to seven years later. Additionally, childhood exposure assessed by DAPs was also associated with respiratory symptoms at ages five and seven and with pulmonary lung function measurements in 7-year-old children. This is the first report on adverse associations between early-life OP exposure and respiratory symptoms and spirometry measurements in children. The strengths of the study include a prospective design, use of biomarkers for exposure assessment instead of relying on questionnaire data, and use of the objective measurement of spirometry tests in addition to symptoms reports. Research publications (1) Raanan, R., Harley, K.G., Balmes, J.R., Bradman, A., Lipsett, M., & Eskenazi, B. (2014). Early-life exposure to organophosphate pesticides and pediatric respiratory symptoms in the CHAMACOS cohort. Environmental Health Perspectives . Advance online publication. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1408235 Fellow Rachel Raanan (Arnon) University of California, Berkeley, USA Supervisor Brenda Eskenazi 2012-2014
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