Abstract
BackgroundData suggest that pesticides interact with the melatonin receptor, which may influence sleep. However, the link between pesticides and sleep remains unexplored among the general adult population. This study evaluated unstratified and sex-stratified associations between urinary pesticide exposure (N = 4,478) and self-reported acute household pesticide exposure (N = 14,956), with sleep health outcomes within a nationally representative sample of US adults.MethodsData from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) 2009–2014 were combined for analysis of aim 1 and aim 2. Urinary pesticide metabolite concentrations served as biomarkers of pesticide exposure. Acute household pesticide exposure (if any chemical products were used in the home in the past seven days to control pests) was self-reported (yes/no). Insufficient sleep duration (< 7 h/night) and trouble sleeping (yes/no) were self-reported. Log-binomial regression models that accounted for complex survey weights and adjusted for confounders were used to compute prevalence ratios and 95% CI.ResultsLog urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) was related to a higher probability of insufficient sleep [1.09 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.20), p = 0.04] and trouble sleeping [1.14 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.27), p = 0.02] among males. Self-reported acute household pesticide exposure was associated with a higher probability of insufficient sleep duration [1.16 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.32), p = 0.03] and trouble sleeping [1.20 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.44), p = 0.04] in the unstratified sample. Sex-stratified findings showed that associations between acute household pesticide exposure and trouble sleeping only persisted among males [1.69 (95% CI: 1.27, 2.24), p < .001].ConclusionsIn summary, acute pesticide exposure may be detrimental to adult sleep health, particularly among US males.
Highlights
Data suggest that pesticides interact with the melatonin receptor, which may influence sleep
The present study utilized publically available, de-identified data and was exempt from human subjects research. Within this nationally representative analytic sample of 4,478 US adults, 34.7% of the sample had insufficient sleep duration based on Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommendations [26], with a mean (SE) sleep duration of 6.9 (0.04) h/night, while 26.4% had trouble sleeping
When we stratified by sex, models adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, BMI, marital status, poverty-income ratio (PIR), and smoking behavior demonstrated that the association between acute household pesticide exposure and insufficient sleep duration differed between males and females, with males having a higher probability (1.23 [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.97, 1.56], p = 0.08) than female counterparts
Summary
Data suggest that pesticides interact with the melatonin receptor, which may influence sleep. Insufficient sleep duration (typically defined as < 7 h/night) has been associated with mental health problems [1], metabolic dysfunction [2,3,4], risk of mortality [5], excessive daytime sleepiness [6], and cognitive dysfunction [7] among adult populations Another component of poor sleep health is trouble sleeping, characterized by difficulty falling and staying asleep throughout the night [8]. The prevalence of poor sleep health is high among US adults, evidenced by approximately 36% of the population experiencing short sleep duration [10] and an estimated one-third with chronic insomnia [11] Both insufficient sleep and trouble sleeping have been linked to environmental factors, such as proximity to noisy areas [12, 13], unhealthy dietary patterns, light exposure, alcohol and nicotine consumption, and stress [10]. A recent experimental study found that pesticides ( carbamates) interact with melatonin (sleep/wake hormone) [22]
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