The Correlation Between Pesticide Exposure and Malondialdehyde Levels on Onion Farmers in Karanganyar

Abstract

Pesticides could induce oxidative stress, which started as formation of free radicals and alteration of antioxidant, enzymatic system, as well as lipid peroxidation. The occurrence of lipid peroxidation could be assessed by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) serum level. This study’s objective was to identify the correlation of previous pesticide exposure with MDA levels in onion farmers in Karanganyar. This study was an observational analytic study which used cross sectional design. Study population was a total of 200 farmers. Total sample of this study is 53 male farmers respondents. Data was analyzed using univariate and bivariate analysis with Rank Spearman and Mann-Whitney test. The average level of cholinesterase was 6409,36 U/L, whereas the average of MDA levels according to the cut-off point was 206,41 ng/ml. The study results showed that there was a low correlation between cholinesterase levels and MDA levels, in which the correlation was in inverse manner, meaning that the higher the cholinesterase levels, the lower the MDA levels (p= 0,029, r= -0,300). There was also a difference in regards to the average cholinesterase levels between farmers who was not fully equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) and farmers who was not fully equipped (p= 0, 027). The non-fully equipped with PPE group showed rank average of 22,90, which was lower compare to fully equipped group which showed rank average of 32,35. This study concluded that the cholinesterase levels were significantly correlated with MDA levels and there was an average difference between the 2 PPE-equipped farmer groups