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Urinary Metabolites of Organophosphate and Pyrethroid Pesticides and Neurobehavioral Effects in Chinese Children
journal contribution
posted on 2016-08-15, 00:00 authored by Na Wang, Mengying Huang, Xinyan Guo, Ping LinOrganophosphate
(OP) and pyrethroid (PYR) pesticides are widely
used in China. However, few studies have investigated the neurobehavioral
outcomes of Chinese children exposed to low levels of OP and PYR.
We investigated urinary metabolite levels and their association with
exposure characteristics and the neurobehavior of children. For all
children, biomarker measurements were made in the same interval relative
to neurobehavioral testing. We analyzed the morning urine samples
of 406 children aged 3–6 years from Nanjing, China. The Kruskal–Wallis
and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to identify the associations
between urinary metabolite levels and exposure characteristics. Multiple
linear regression models were used to test the associations between
urinary metabolite levels and neurobehavioral test scores after adjusting
for covariates (e.g., sex, age, and education expense). The detection
of 3,5,6-trichloropyridinol (TCP) and 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA)
in the urine was positively associated with living areas adjacent
to agricultural fields and using indoor mosquito repellent incense.
These two metabolites were negatively associated with the soaking
time of fruits and vegetables. When treated as dichotomous variables,
TCP was significantly associated with arithmetic test scores in adjusted
models, and 3-PBA was significantly associated with the scores on
the Chinese Binet and arithmetic tests. When treated as a continuous
variable, higher urinary 3-PBA levels were significantly associated
with lower cancellation test scores. Our findings suggest that exposure
to organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides may have a significant
impact on children’s working memory and verbal comprehension.