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Published on: April 1, 2017
Depression and Pesticide Exposure Among Male Farmers in Greece
Elisavet Frengidou1, Petros Galanis, Konstantinos Chatzimichael
1From the Public Organization for Providing Health Care Services, Regional Department of North and East Greece, Thessaloniki, Greece (E.F.); Faculty of Nursing, Center for Health Services Management and Evaluation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece (P.G.); Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece (K.C., C.M.); and Laboratory of Pesticide Science, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece (E.K.).
Objective:
The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pesticide exposure and depression.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was performed in a study population of 252 Greek male farmers using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Cumulative pesticide exposure was categorized in three mutually exclusive groups related to lifetime pesticide use: low (<275 days, the reference group), intermediate (276 to 1200 days), and high (>1200 days). Acute pesticide exposure was categorized in pesticide poisoning events and high pesticide exposure events. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed, and odds ratios, 95% confidence intervals, and P values were presented.
Findings:
After adjusting for confounding factors, a positive significant association was found between both high-exposure group and high pesticide exposure events and depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
Apart from acute, high cumulative pesticide exposure may as well contribute to the development of depression.
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