Living in the vicinity of pesticide-treated crop fields: Exploring associated perceptions and psychological aspects in relation to self-reported and registry-based health symptoms.

Autor: Gerbecks J; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, 118-124, 3513 CR, The Netherlands. j.gerbecks@nivel.nl., Baliatsas C; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, 118-124, 3513 CR, The Netherlands., Yzermans CJ; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, 118-124, 3513 CR, The Netherlands., Simoes M; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands., Huss A; Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands., Verheij RA; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, 118-124, 3513 CR, The Netherlands.; Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (TRANZO), Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands., Dückers M; Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, 118-124, 3513 CR, The Netherlands.; Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.; ARQ National Psychotrauma Centre, Diemen, The Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC psychology [BMC Psychol] 2024 Nov 16; Vol. 12 (1), pp. 669. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 16.
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-02162-1
Abstrakt: Background: Exposure to pesticides in the living environment can be associated with the prevalence of health symptoms. This study investigates associations between health symptoms among residents in areas with fruit crop fields where pesticides are applied, and psychological perceptions and attitudes about environmental aspects and exposures.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey combined with routine primary care electronic health records (EHR) data was conducted in 2017 in rural areas of the Netherlands with high concentration of fruit crops (n = 3,321, aged ≥ 16 years). Individual exposure to pesticides was estimated using geocoded data on fruit crops around the home. Validated instruments were used to assess symptom report and psychological perceptions and attitudes. Annual prevalence of various health symptoms was derived from EHRs. Multilevel regression models were used to analyze associations between health symptoms (outcome), fruit crops, and multiple psychological perceptions and attitudes (confounders).
Results: Living in the vicinity of fruit crop fields was generally not associated with self-reported symptom duration and general practitioner (GP) registered symptoms. For self-reported symptoms, symptom prevalence decreased when crop density within 250 m and 500 m from the home increased. No associations were found at other distances. Furthermore, higher levels of environmental worries, perceived exposure, and perceived sensitivity to pesticides and attribution of symptoms to environmental exposures were generally associated with a higher number of self-reported symptoms, and longer symptom duration. Symptoms reported to GPs were not associated with psychological perceptions and attitudes, except for perceived sensitivity to pesticides.
Conclusion: Psychological perceptions and attitudes appear to be related to self-reported symptoms, but not to GP-registered symptoms, independent of the actual levels of exposure as measured by the size of the area of crop fields. Perceptions about environmental factors should be taken into account in environmental health risk assessment research when studying health symptoms.
Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate The use of Electronic Health Records data from the Nivel Primary Care Database, as used for this study, is permitted by the Dutch law – under certain conditions – without having to ask permission from each individual patient, or without review by a medical ethics committee. Nivel Primary Care Database meets the Dutch regulations on data protection and laws on use of health data for epidemiological research purposes (Dutch Civil Law, Article 7:458). According to this legislation, neither obtaining informed consent from patients nor approval by a medical ethics committee is obligatory for observational studies containing no directly identifiable data.For matching the EHR data and the questionnaire data, a Trusted Third Party ensured anonymity of data at all times. For this purpose, a privacy regulation was established, which included the requirement for general practitioners to inform their patients through posters and brochures in the waiting room about participation in the study. The proposal for the study was submitted to the Privacy Committee of Nivel, which provided positive recommendations. For the linkage between datasets (EHR data - distance to fruit cultivation/buffers), a Trusted Third Party (TTP) was used (IVZ, Houten, https://www.sivz.nl/en/datamanagement). Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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