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Agricultural workers are daily exposed to organophosphate pesticides. In addition to acute and chronic poisoning several authors have reported the presence of persistent or chronic symptoms without diminished cholinesterase levels. The objective of this research was to assess the prevalence of persistent symptoms, its relationship with working conditions and the level of cholinesterase.
Methods
We performed a cross-sectional study with 172 workers in an agricultural company in Sinaloa Mexico. It was questioned about socio-demographic characteristics, working conditions, and presence of nineteen symptoms and co-morbidities on previous 15 days. Cholinesterase was measured using the Magnotti method. Data were analyzed with SPSS
Results
The prevalence of persistent symptoms was 62.2 x 100 workers 19.8% had one to three symptoms, 23.3% had between four and nine, and 19.2% had more than ten symptoms. The presence and number of symptoms were associated with greater exposure to pesticides due to characteristics of working conditions, such as: working years p = 0.04, frequency of pesticide application p <0.001, re-entry time p = 0.02; working hours per week p = 0.03, breaks during the labor day p = 0.03; protection equipment p = 0.01; place for food intake p = 0.006; shower after the working day p = 0.002, and change of working clothe p=0.02. The average of cholinesterase and adjusted cholinesterase were in normal ranges: 3.6901±0.6519 and 32.9855±7.0867 respectively, but hemoglobin concentration was 11.1121 ± 1.8968. We detected anemia on 65% of the entire population. No association was found between the levels of cholinesterase and presence of symptoms
Discussion
In this research, we could confirm the high prevalence of persistent symptoms and their association with increased exposure to pesticides due to poor working conditions. As in other studies, no association was found between the presence and number of symptoms and level of cholinesterase.