Home proximity to flower plantations and higher systolic blood pressure among children

Abstract

Proximity of homes to flower plantations and greater plantation areas within 150 m from homes were associated with higher systolic BP, independent of cholinesterase activity. This suggests that non-cholinesterase inhibitor pesticide drift from agricultural plantations may be sufficient to induce physiologic changes on children living nearby.

Associations of Acetylcholinesterase Activity with Depression and Anxiety Symptoms among Adolescents Growing Up near Pesticide Spray Sites

“…Children growing up in the agricultural Pedro Moncayo County, have an increased risk for exposure to agrochemicals, including cholinesterase inhibitor insecticides, compared to urban children. A single measure of AChE activity in this setting is an indicator of exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors as lower values have been observed among a) children living with floricultural workers, in particular with those with greater pesticide "take-home" pathways; b) children living near pesticide spray sites; and c) children examined sooner after the end of a pesticide spray season compared to those examined later (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018. To our knowledge, this is the first epidemiologic study to describe an association between depressive symptoms and pesticide exposures in adolescents using an exposure biomarker.…”

Residential proximity to greenhouse agriculture and neurobehavioral performance in Ecuadorian children

“…However, alterations in neurobehavioral performance may also be present at greater distances but the limited statistical power of our study to detect smaller differences precluded us from assessing this further. In previous analyses of the ESPINA study, we observed positive associations between residential distances to flower crops and AChE activity, with the lowest AChE levels observed among children living within 232m of a greenhouse floricultural crop (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018). This supports the construct of residential distance to flower plantations as a pathway of exposure to pesticides Furthermore, we previously observed that children living closer to flower crops had higher systolic blood pressures, which indicates that additional physiologic processes may be affected among children living near pesticide spray sites (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018).…”

“…Residential distance from treated floricultural crops was used as a proxy for childhood exposure to floricultural pesticides. Though a crude exposure assessment, the use of this exposure metric is supported by the existing literature and validated within our study population (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018). Prevailing winds were not accounted for in the present analyses.…”

“…Cases where parental consent or child assent were missing are not included in this study. Participant recruitment is described in more detail in Suarez-Lopez et al, 2012 (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018). Distance between the child's home and the nearest 1m segment of the nearest flower plantation perimeter was calculated using ArcGIS 9.3.…”

“…There is currently a need to understand not only the exposure patterns of children living near greenhouse agriculture, but also whether the neurobehavioral performance of such children may also be affected as a result of chronic pesticide drift from such crops. In the study of Secondary Exposures to Pesticides among Children and Adolescents (ESPINA: Estudio de la Exposición Secundaria a Plaguicidas en Niños y Adolescentes) based in Pedro Moncayo County, we observed that children living near flower crops had lower acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity (reflecting greater exposure to cholinesterase inhibitor pesticides) and higher blood pressure compared to children living farther away (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2018). Because of these findings and our previously reported positive associations between AChE activity and neurobehavioral performance in boys (J.R. and transient alterations in neurobehavioral performance in relation to a peak pesticide spray season (Suarez-Lopez et al, 2017b), we hypothesized that children living near greenhouse floricultural production sites, assessed during the same time period with respect to harvest season, had worse neurobehavioral performance compared to children living farther away.…”