Neuropsychological and psychiatric functioning in sheep farmers exposed to low levels of organophosphate pesticides.

ABSTRACT: The study aim was to determine whether low level exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) causes neuropsychological or psychiatric impairment. Methodological weaknesses of earlier studies were addressed by: recruiting participants who had retired on ill health grounds; excluding participants with a history of acute poisoning, medical or psychiatric conditions that might account for ill health; and exploring factors which may render some individuals more vulnerable to the effects of OPs than others. Performance on tests of cognition and mood of 127 exposed sheep farmers (67 working, 60 retired) was compared with 78 unexposed controls (38 working, 40 retired) and published test norms derived from a cross section of several thousand adults in the general population. Over 40% of the expose

SUBMITTER: Mackenzie Ross SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3042861 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature