Reproductive and Thyroid Hormones among Male Agricultural Workers Exposed to Pesticides

Abstract

Background: In rural Egypt, one of the main activities of men is agricultural work, where pesticides are used to control insects and weeds. Pesticides have been classified as endocrine disrupting chemicals, which may lead to alterations in male reproductive and thyroid hormonal levels. Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of chronic occupational pesticide exposure on thyroid and male reproductive hormones among agricultural workers. Methods: The study included eighty male agricultural workers from El-Shomoot village, Qalubia governorate. Forty non exposed males work at Banha Faculty of Medicine were selected as a control group. All participating workers were interviewed using a precomposed questionnaire and investigated by measuring the blood level of male reproductive hormones (LH, FSH, testosterone & estradiol) and thyroid hormones (TSH, T3 & T4) according to standard procedures. Results: The studied groups were matched as regard age, gender, marital status and smoking habits. In comparing the exposed and control groups according to the blood levels of studied hormones, the exposed group had significantly lower values of testosterone, T3, T4, and LH compared to the control group (p<0.05). Moreover, there were higher statistically significant values of TSH, FSH and Estradiol among exposed group compared to control group (p<0.05),such blood levels of studied hormones among exposed group were affected by many factors as type of job, duration of exposure and wearing protective clothes all differences were statistically significant (P<0.005). Conclusion & Recommendations: Chronic exposure to pesticides may cause endocrine disrupting effects on male reproductive and thyroid hormones. So we recommended, improving working condition, restriction of unlimited use of pesticides especially in agricultural purposes. Further researches are needed to evaluate pesticides effect on large sample to obtain detailed information about the exposure routes, pathways, other mechanisms of toxicity and other health hazards.