{"title":"Pesticide exposure and health risk assessment in Durian farmers from Southern of Thailand.","authors":"Pattama Senthong, Sivasit Wittayasilp","doi":"10.1007/s00420-025-02174-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>This study aims to quantify pesticide concentrations in personal air samples during durian pesticide spraying, assess the associated health risks, and examine the relationships among exposure levels, reported health symptoms, and blood acetylcholinesterase levels in durian farmers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study was conducted among durian farmers in the southern region of Thailand. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on general information, pesticide use and self-protection behaviors, and health effects related to pesticide exposure. Personal air sampling was conducted using OSHA Versatile Sampler (OVS) tubes, and pesticide concentrations were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and associations between variables were assessed using the Chi-square test at a 95% confidence level.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The majority of farmers were male (73.2%) and had 1-5 years of pesticide spraying experience (56.1%). Most of them (97.6%) had normal and safe blood acetylcholinesterase levels. After pesticide exposure, the most commonly reported symptoms were nose burning (52.4%), conjunctivitis/eye burning/ocular pruritus (13.4%), sore or dry throat (12.2%), and dizziness or headache (12.2%). Four pesticides were detected with concentrations exceeding the standard limits, including chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, diazinon, and fenobucarb. In contrast, four pesticides were found with concentrations below the standard limits, namely metalaxyl, buprofezin, difenoconazole, and azoxystrobin. Most pesticides had hazard quotient (HQ) values less than 1, except for dichlorvos. A statistically significant association was observed between chlorpyrifos concentrations and abnormalities in all body systems except the musculoskeletal system. Additionally, chlorpyrifos concentration was significantly associated with blood acetylcholinesterase levels. The use of personal protective equipment also showed a statistically significant association with acetylcholinesterase levels in the blood.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Government authorities should regulate and monitor pesticide use among durian farmers to ensure it does not exceed safety standards and should develop occupational health and safety plans to protect farmers in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":13761,"journal":{"name":"International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health","volume":" ","pages":"821-835"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-025-02174-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/10/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: This study aims to quantify pesticide concentrations in personal air samples during durian pesticide spraying, assess the associated health risks, and examine the relationships among exposure levels, reported health symptoms, and blood acetylcholinesterase levels in durian farmers.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among durian farmers in the southern region of Thailand. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on general information, pesticide use and self-protection behaviors, and health effects related to pesticide exposure. Personal air sampling was conducted using OSHA Versatile Sampler (OVS) tubes, and pesticide concentrations were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, and associations between variables were assessed using the Chi-square test at a 95% confidence level.
Results: The majority of farmers were male (73.2%) and had 1-5 years of pesticide spraying experience (56.1%). Most of them (97.6%) had normal and safe blood acetylcholinesterase levels. After pesticide exposure, the most commonly reported symptoms were nose burning (52.4%), conjunctivitis/eye burning/ocular pruritus (13.4%), sore or dry throat (12.2%), and dizziness or headache (12.2%). Four pesticides were detected with concentrations exceeding the standard limits, including chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, diazinon, and fenobucarb. In contrast, four pesticides were found with concentrations below the standard limits, namely metalaxyl, buprofezin, difenoconazole, and azoxystrobin. Most pesticides had hazard quotient (HQ) values less than 1, except for dichlorvos. A statistically significant association was observed between chlorpyrifos concentrations and abnormalities in all body systems except the musculoskeletal system. Additionally, chlorpyrifos concentration was significantly associated with blood acetylcholinesterase levels. The use of personal protective equipment also showed a statistically significant association with acetylcholinesterase levels in the blood.
Conclusions: Government authorities should regulate and monitor pesticide use among durian farmers to ensure it does not exceed safety standards and should develop occupational health and safety plans to protect farmers in the future.
期刊介绍:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health publishes Editorials, Review Articles, Original Articles, and Letters to the Editor. It welcomes any manuscripts dealing with occupational or ambient environmental problems, with a special interest in research at the interface of occupational health and clinical medicine. The scope ranges from Biological Monitoring to Dermatology, from Fibers and Dust to Human Toxicology, from Nanomaterials and Ultra-fine Dust to Night- and Shift Work, from Psycho-mental Distress and Burnout to Vibrations. A complete list of topics can be found on the right-hand side under For authors and editors.
In addition, all papers should be based on present-day standards and relate to:
-Clinical and epidemiological studies on morbidity and mortality
-Clinical epidemiological studies on the parameters relevant to the estimation of health risks
-Human experimental studies on environmental health effects. Animal experiments are only acceptable if relevant to pathogenic aspects.
-Methods for studying the topics mentioned above.