Job demands and pesticide exposure among immigrant Latino farmworkers

The goal of this study was to understand the potential threat of job stressors to farmworker health. To accomplish this goal we studied pesticide exposure, an issue with immediate and long-term health consequences, and predictions from the Demands-Control model of occupational stress. Longitudinal, self-report data and urine samples were collected at monthly intervals from a cohort of Latino farmworkers (N = 287) during the 2007 agricultural season. The primary hypothesis was that greater exposure to psychological demands, physical exertion, and hazardous work conditions are associated with greater odds of detecting dialkylphosphate (DAP) urinary pesticide metabolites, biomarkers indicating exposure to pesticides. Contrary to this hypothesis, results indicated that none of the elements of the Demands-Control model were independently associated with detection of DAP urinary pesticide metabolites. However, analyses produced several interaction effects, including evidence that high levels of control may buffer the effects of physical job demands on detection of DAP urinary pesticide metabolites.