Increased risk of atherosclerosis associated with pesticide exposure in rural areas in Korea

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a progressive inflammation in systemic vessels, and pesticide exposure has been emerging as its risk factor. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between pesticide exposure and the risk of atherosclerosis in a rural population in Korea using carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). This study used dataset from the baseline survey of the Korea Farmers Cohort Study between November 2005 and January 2008, and the final analysis included 477 participants. Well-structured questionnaires were used to estimate pesticide exposure. CIMT � 0.9 mm was established for carotid atherosclerosis. Multiple logistic regression analyses were undertaken to evaluate the association between pesticide exposure and atherosclerosis, adjusting demographic and health-related confounders. Even after adjustments, the increased risk of atherosclerosis was significantly associated with pesticide exposure, such as a lifetime history of farming (odds ratio [OR] 3.25 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.51-6.98), a history of using pesticide (OR 3.42 95% CI 1.63-7.16), using pesticide 10 times or more annually (OR 2.55 95% CI 1.21-5.39), and higher cumulative exposure index level (OR 3.63 95% CI 1.65-7.97). Further prospective studies are required to elucidate effects of pesticide exposure on the risk of atherosclerosis.

Validation of exposure indexes to pesticides through the analysis of exposure and effect biomarkers in ground pesticide applicators from Argentina

“…Worldwide, few studies have used algorithms and indexes to estimate the exposure of occupationally exposed populations. Association between the intensity of the exposure and the biomarkers measured was already described (Intayoung et al, 2021;Fuhrimann et al, 2020;Park et al, 2020). However, to our knowledge, none study has focused in differentiate and validate the classification of occupationally exposed subjects into different levels of risk/exposure.…”

Evaluation of subclinical atherosclerosis in rosacea patients by flow‐mediated dilatation method

“…Carotid intima‐media thickness (CIMT) and epicardial fat thickness (EFT) are both ultrasonographic measurement methods used to demonstrate visceral adiposity and therefore atherosclerosis, and it has been reported that they may be independent risk factors for coronary artery disease 30–32 . CIMT has also been accepted as a measure of occult systemic inflammation.…”

“…and it has been reported that they may be independent risk factors for coronary artery disease. [30][31][32] CIMT has also been accepted as a measure of occult systemic inflammation. Therefore, both methods have been examined in inflammatory dermatological diseases such as rosacea for the investigation of cardiovascular relation.…”

Assessments of Perfusion, Blood Flow, and Vascular Structure in Ambulatory Subjects: Guidance for Translational Research Scientists

“…Common carotid artery 45 [21,13,14,140,146,112,142,147,148,17,113,149,139,114,115,133,124,145,119,128,125,141,129,116,132,144,126,150,120,151,121,130,143,22,117,134,152,127,153,122,154,123,138,118] Internal carotid artery 1 [137] Brachial carotid artery 2 [155,156] Femoral artery 1 [135] Not reported 1 [131] Aspect of vasculature assessed…”

“…Atherosclerosis and carotid plaques 19 [21,13,14,140,142,147,17,149,139,136,125,141,151,155,22,123,118] Arterial stiffness 3 [113,129,138] Arterial thickness 14 [135,148,137,114,115,133,124,119,144,126,121,130,156,153,122] Nonspecific cardiovascular risk factors 12 [146,112,114,115,145,131,116,150,120,143,134,127] Organ damage 1 [128] Not reported 1 [154] Technique Ultrasound 49…”