Urinary Pesticide Residual Levels and Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Under 5 Years of Age: Findings From the Offinso North Farm Health Study

Enoch Akyeampong; John R Bend; Isaac Luginaah; David Oscar Yawson; Samuel Jerry Cobbina; Frederick Ato Armah; Michael Osei Adu; David Kofi Essumang; Samuel Iddi; Paul K Botwe; Reginald Quansah

doi:10.1177/11786302221094418

Urinary Pesticide Residual Levels and Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Under 5 Years of Age: Findings From the Offinso North Farm Health Study

Environ Health Insights. 2022 Apr 30:16:11786302221094418. doi: 10.1177/11786302221094418. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Biological, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
² Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
³ Department of Geography, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁴ Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), The University of the West Indies, Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados.
⁵ Department of Ecotourism and Environmental Management, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University for Development Studies, Nyankpala, Ghana.
⁶ Department of Environmental Science, School of Biological Sciences, College of Agriculture & Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁷ Department of Crop Science, School of Agriculture, College of Agriculture & Natural Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁸ Environmental Research Group, Department of Chemistry, School of Physical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
⁹ Department of Statistics and actuarial science, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.

Abstract

Background: Several environmental factors are associated with the risk of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) and upper respiratory infections (URIs) in children under 5 years of age (YOA). Evidence implicating chemical pesticides remains equivocal. There are also no data on this subject in these children in Ghana. This study investigated the association between urinary pesticide residual levels and the risk for ALRIs/URIs in children under 5 YOA.

Methods: The participants for this study were from the Offinso North Farm Health Study, a population-based cross-sectional study. Two hundred and fifty four parents/guardians who had answered affirmatively to the question "Has your child ever accompanied you to the farm?" were interviewed on household socio-demographic and environmental factors, being breastfed, child education, age, gender, and respiratory infection. One hundred fifty children were randomly selected to provide the first void urine.

Results: The proportion of children with ALRI was 22.1% and those with URI was 35.8%. We observed a statistically significant exposure-response relation of p,p'-DDE (tertile) with ALRI (1.7-3.2 µg/L urine: prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.22 [1.05-1.70], ⩾3.2 µg/L urine: 1.50 [1.07-3.53] [P-for trend = .0297]). This observation was in children older than two YOA (P-for trend = .0404). Delta-HCH and beta-HCH (2-levels) were significantly associated with ALRI but not URI. The risk of ALRI increased with deltamethrin levels in an exposure-response manner (2.5-9.5 µg/L urine: 2.10 [1.37-3.24], ⩾9.5 µg/L urine: 4.38 [1.87-10.32] [P-for trend = .0011]) and this was also observed in children older than two YOA. Similar observation was noted for URI. Bifenthrin (>0.5 µg/L urine) was positively associated with ALRI and URI whereas permethrin (⩾1.2 µg/L urine) was not associated only with URI.

Conclusions: The present study supports the hypothesis that exposure to chemical pesticides is associated with respiratory infections in children under 5 YOA.

Keywords: Ghana; Offinso North District; children under 5 years of age; respiratory infection; urinary pesticides residual levels.