Abstract
Pyrethroid compounds are widely used in household insecticides and agricultural pesticides. Recent studies, however, report that pyrethroid exposures affect neurobehavioral function in animals and may be associated with adverse neurocognitive development in children. This study aimed to examine the association between pyrethroid exposure and cognitive dysfunction in older adults using a well-defined general population. We analyzed data from 336 individuals, aged 60–84 years, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001–2002. We used urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) concentration as a biomarker of pyrethroid exposures and assessed cognitive function with the digit–symbol coding test. The geometric means (±geometric standard errors) of creatinine-uncorrected and corrected urinary 3-PBA were 0.30 (±0.87) μg/L and 0.36 (±0.89) μg/g. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, higher 3-PBA concentrations (> vs. ≤0.30 μg/g creatinine (median)) were associated with lower scores of cognitive function (−3.83 95% confidence interval: −7.11, −0.54). Significance was persistent after additionally adjusting for physical activity and smoking pack-year (−3.76 95% CI: −7.16, −0.36) and further adjusting for BMI and presence of hypertension and diabetes (−3.82 95% CI: −6.92, −0.71). Our findings suggest that pyrethroid exposure is associated with cognitive dysfunction in older adults.
Highlights
Our findings suggest that pyrethroid exposure is associated with cognitive dysfunction in older adults
The NHANES is a cross-sectional and population-based survey to obtain health and nutrition status conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Their study reports that mice that were exposed to deltamethrin, a pyrethroid compound, during development showed several features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), that is, elevated dopamine transporter level, hyperactivity, working memory and attention deficits, and impulsivity
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Pyrethroids are analogs of natural pyrethrins produced by pyrethrums and are widely used in household insecticides and agricultural pesticides [1]. The utility of pyrethroids is based on their disruption of gating of insect axonal sodium channels so that neurons are damaged due to hyperstimulation [2]. When pyrethroids enter a human body, they are rapidly metabolized via several pathways [3], one of which is their hydrolysis to
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