{"id":37592,"date":"2025-01-31T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T05:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=37592"},"modified":"2025-02-05T09:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T14:02:10","slug":"sleep-disorders-in-farmers-and-farmworkers-linked-to-pesticide-exposure-in-study-supporting-similar-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2025\/01\/sleep-disorders-in-farmers-and-farmworkers-linked-to-pesticide-exposure-in-study-supporting-similar-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"Sleep Disorders in Farmers and Farmworkers Linked to Pesticide Exposure in Study Supporting Similar Findings"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, January 31, 2025) A recent cross-sectional study in Heliyon<\/a> highlights the link between sleep disorders in Thai farmers and pesticide exposure. The authors find pesticide exposure as an important risk factor for sleep disorders after surveying 27,334 farmers over the age of 20 who had work experience for at least five years.<\/p>\n

The importance of sleep health is reflected both physically and mentally, as studies find \u201csleep deficiency increase[s] mortality and various health complications, including hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, mood disorders, and neurodegenerative disorder<\/a>.\u201d Additional studies find that these issues are compounded when sleep health is affected by environmental factors such as pesticide exposure. (See previous Beyond Pesticides\u2019 coverage here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The researchers report: \u201cThe study found a positive association of 19 individual pesticides (twelve insecticides, two herbicides, and five fungicides). Some associations demonstrated a dose-response pattern. Additionally, the study revealed that women are at a higher risk of sleep-related issues with pesticide exposure compared to males. These results not only substantiate existing literature but also unveil several new individual pesticides that may impact sleep health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on study participants in Thailand, which is \u201ccharacterized by heavy pesticide use and minimal protective measures, presents unique exposure circumstances that offer an opportunity to study the effects of pesticides,\u201d the authors note. The farmers live in the three provinces in the north of Thailand that are the largest in terms of agricultural area, population, and pesticide use. Thai agriculture, according to the researchers, \u201caccounts for about thirty percent of the workforce, [and] depends heavily on pesticides to control of weeds, insects, and fungi.\u201d This places farmers and farmworkers<\/a> with an elevated risk to the toxic effects of pesticides.<\/p>\n

Within the study, consent forms and questionnaires were given to the randomly selected participants between October 2020 and February 2021. The questions were originally developed under the Agricultural Health Study<\/a> from the U.S. and have been used in many cross-sectional studies. Historical pesticide exposure was assessed and the participants were placed into two groups for each pesticide of exposed and unexposed. 38 individual pesticides are included in the study, falling into several categories. The authors share that this encompasses \u201cseven organochlorine pesticides, eight organophosphates, four carbamates, three other insecticides, seven herbicides, and nine fungicides. These pesticides were chosen based on findings from previous studies that indicated a connection to sleep health and their common usage in Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reported pesticide exposure was compared to sleep disorder diagnoses, as confirmed with hospital records. \u201cIn this study, sleep disorder (F51)<\/a> refers to a group of diseases including insomnia (F510), hypersomnia (F511), disorders of the sleep-wake cycle (F512), sleepwalking (F513), night terrors\/sleep terrors (F514), nightmares (F515), and other sleep disorders (F518, F519).\u201d<\/p>\n

The study results show that there is a significant association with sleep disorders for insecticide exposure between 116.1\u2013442.5 days. A higher risk with fungicide and molluscicides exposure is noted with any use between 1.2\u20139030.0 days. The researchers report: \u201cFor individual pesticides, significant associations were observed in 19 out of 38 individual pesticides. There were twelve insecticides, including three organochlorine insecticides (chlorpyrifos<\/a>, chlordane<\/a>, dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane [DDT<\/a>]), five organophosphates (ethyl p-nitrophenyl phenylphosphorothioate [EPN], folidol, methamidophos<\/a>, mevinphos<\/a>, profenofos<\/a>), three carbamates (carbaryl<\/a>, carbofuran<\/a>, methomyl<\/a>), and imidacloprid<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the study shows that the female group displays higher associations with sleep disorders. Significant associations are also noted for \u201ctwo herbicides (diuron<\/a> and paraquat<\/a>) and five fungicides (benomyl<\/a>, Bordeaux mixture, carbendazim<\/a>, copper sulphate<\/a>, metalaxyl<\/a>). The association for some chemicals, e.g., chlorpyrifos, DDT, endosulfan<\/a>, carbosulfan were in a dose-response pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors summarize these results, saying: \u201cThis study revealed a significant connection between historical pesticide use and sleep disorders. Remarkably, this association persisted even after adjusting for demographic variations and potential confounding from exposure to other pesticides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notable research on sleep health that the authors reference include:<\/p>\n