Urinary Pesticide Residual Levels and Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Under 5 Years of Age: Findings From the Offinso North Farm Health Study

Abstract

Background: Several environmental factors are associated with the risk of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) and upper respiratory infections (URIs) in children under 5 years of age (YOA). Evidence implicating chemical pesticides remains equivocal. There are also no data on this subject in these children in Ghana. This study investigated the association between urinary pesticide residual levels and the risk for ALRIs/URIs in children under 5 YOA. Methods: The participants for this study were from the Offinso North Farm Health Study, a population-based cross-sectional study. Two hundred and fifty four parents/guardians who had answered affirmatively to the question “Has your child ever accompanied you to the farm?” were interviewed on household socio-demographic and environmental factors, being breastfed, child education, age, gender, and respiratory infection. One hundred fifty children were randomly selected to provide the first void urine. Results: The proportion of children with ALRI was 22.1% and those with URI was 35.8%. We observed a statistically significant exposure-response relation of p,p′-DDE (tertile) with ALRI (1.7-3.2 µg/L urine: prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.22 [1.05-1.70], ⩾3.2 µg/L urine: 1.50 [1.07-3.53] [ P-for trend = .0297]). This observation was in children older than two YOA ( P-for trend = .0404). Delta-HCH and beta-HCH (2-levels) were significantly associated with ALRI but not URI. The risk of ALRI increased with deltamethrin levels in an exposure-response manner (2.5-9.5 µg/L urine: 2.10 [1.37-3.24], ⩾9.5 µg/L urine: 4.38 [1.87-10.32] [ P-for trend = .0011]) and this was also observed in children older than two YOA. Similar observation was noted for URI. Bifenthrin (>0.5 µg/L urine) was positively associated with ALRI and URI whereas permethrin (⩾1.2 µg/L urine) was not associated only with URI. Conclusions: The present study supports the hypothesis that exposure to chemical pesticides is associated with respiratory infections in children under 5 YOA.

Acute lower respiratory infections among children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review of prevalence and risk factors

“…The majority of the reviewed studies that provided the rates were between 11 and 20% [ 18 , 19 , 28 , 31 - 34 , 47 ]. Additionally, seven studies reported a prevalence between 21 and 30% [ 7 , 15 - 17 , 23 , 24 , 35 ] and four studies recorded a prevalence between 31 and 40% [ 14 , 36 , 43 , 49 ]. Only one study provided a prevalence between 41 and 50% [ 1 ].…”

Clustering of Communicable Diseases in Indonesia and the Factors that Affect Them: 2018 Basic Health Research Data Statistical Review

“…Among the side effects of deltamethrin are allergic skin reactions and respiratory tract irritation. The relationship between the use of mosquito nets and the incidence of ARI is the effect of the chemicals used on the mosquito nets (Akyeampong et al, 2022).…”

Current knowledge on the effects of environmental contaminants in early life nutrition

“…However, prenatal, perinatal or postnatal exposure to DDE was not associated with respiratory infections ( 136 , 137 ) or levels of lymphocytes and monocytes ( 137 , 138 ) while it was inversely related with circulating eosinophils ( 138 , 139 ). Conversely, in Ghana, a significant association between DDE and other pesticides and increased low respiratory infections in children aged 2 to 5 years was described ( 140 ).…”