Comparison of Current-Use Pesticide and Other Toxicant Urinary Metabolite Levels among Pregnant Women in the CHAMACOS Cohort and NHANES

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives Vol. 118; no. 6; pp. 856 - 863
• Main Authors: Castorina, Rosemary, Bradman, Asa, Fenster, Laura, Barr, Dana Boyd, Bravo, Roberto, Vedar, Michelle G., Harnly, Martha E., McKone, Thomas E., Eisen, Ellen A., Eskenazi, Brenda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Research Triangle Park, NC National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 01.06.2010; US Department of Health and Human Services
• Subjects: Agricultural chemicals; Agriculture; Analysis; Analysis of Variance; BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Biological and medical sciences; California; Chemical hazards; Chromatography, Gas; Cohort Studies; Creatinine - urine; Diabetes. Impaired glucose tolerance; Endocrine pancreas. Apud cells (diseases); Endocrinopathies; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental Exposure - analysis; Environmental health; Environmental Monitoring - statistics & numerical data; ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Etiopathogenesis. Screening. Investigations. Target tissue resistance; ETU; exposure; Female; Fungicides; Health; Health aspects; Humans; Insecticides; Interviews as Topic; Medical sciences; Metabolites; NHANES; Nutrition; Nutrition Surveys; Organochlorine compounds; organophosphate; Pesticide Residues - urine; Pesticides; Pesticides, fertilizers and other agrochemicals toxicology; Precursors; Pregnancy; Pregnant women; prenatal; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Pyrethrins; Toxicology; urinary metabolites; Urine; Valleys; women; California; United States; USA, California; Endocrinopathy; Human; Urine; organophosphate; Metabolite; Diabetes mellitus; Use; Pesticides; ETU; Exposure; urinary metabolites; Pregnancy; Prenatal; Health and environment; Cohort study; Adult; Female; Poison; Organophosphorus compounds; NHANES; Woman; Comparative study; Public health; women
• DOI: 10.1289/ehp.0901568
• ISSN: 0091-6765

BACKGROUND: We measured 34 metabolites of current-use pesticides and other precursor compounds in urine samples collected twice during pregnancy from 538 women living in the Salinas Valley of California, a highly agricultural area (1999-2001). Precursors of these metabolites included fungicides, carbamate, organochlorine, organophosphoras (OP), and pyrethroid insecticides, and triazine and chloroacetanilide herbicides. We also measured ethylenethiourea, a metabolite of the ethylene-bisdithiocarbamate fungicides. Repeat measurements of the compounds presented here have not been reported in pregnant women previously. To understand the impact of the women's regional environment on these findings, we compared metabolite concentrations from the CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas) cohort with U.S. national reference data for 342 pregnant women sampled by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2002). RESULTS: The eight metabolites detected in > 50% of samples [2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP); 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP); 1-and 2-naphthol; ertÄo-phenylpnenol (ORTH); para-nitrophenol (PNP); 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP); and 3,4,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy)] may be related to home or agricultural pesticide use in the Salinas Valley, household products, and other sources of chlorinated phenols. More than 78% of women in this study had detectable levels of at least one of the OP pesticide-specific metabolites that we measured, and > 30% had two or more. The 95th percentile values of six of the most commonly detected (> 50%) compounds were significantly higher among the CHAMACOS women after controlling for age, race, sodoeconomic status, and smoking [(2,4-DCP; 2,5-DCP; ORTH; PNP; 2,4,6-TCP; and TCPy); quantilc regression P < 0.05]. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the CHAMACOS cohort has an additional burden of precursor pesticide exposure compared with the national sample, possibly from living and/or working in an agricultural area.