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Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review

Pesticide exposure may affect children’s respiratory and allergic health, although results from epidemiological studies have not reached consensus. This review aims to analyze the scientific evidence on respiratory and allergic effects of exposure to agricultural pesticides in children aged up to 12...

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Autores principales: Buralli, Rafael Junqueira, Dultra, Amana Freitas, Ribeiro, Helena
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7254369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32316194
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082740
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author Buralli, Rafael Junqueira
Dultra, Amana Freitas
Ribeiro, Helena
author_facet Buralli, Rafael Junqueira
Dultra, Amana Freitas
Ribeiro, Helena
author_sort Buralli, Rafael Junqueira
collection PubMed
description Pesticide exposure may affect children’s respiratory and allergic health, although results from epidemiological studies have not reached consensus. This review aims to analyze the scientific evidence on respiratory and allergic effects of exposure to agricultural pesticides in children aged up to 12 years old. The databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scielo, and Lilacs were screened to select articles published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, and 21 articles were included in this review. Most investigations were conducted in North America (mostly in the United States), while no studies conducted in Latin America or Africa were found, despite their intensive use of pesticides. Children are exposed to pesticides through multiple pathways from the prenatal period throughout later developmental stages and may experience several respiratory effects. Most studies (79%) found positive associations with pesticide exposure and children’s respiratory and allergic effects such as asthma, wheezing, coughs, acute respiratory infections, hay fever, rhinitis, eczema, chronic phlegm, and lung function impairments. Contrastingly, 21% of the studies found no associations between pesticide exposure and children’s respiratory health. The vast differences among the characteristics of the studies hamper any comparison of the results. Exposure to pesticides may have several impacts on childhood respiratory health. More studies must be conducted, especially in low- and middle-income countries, preferably with comparable research protocols adapted to local realities. Efforts should be made to develop comprehensive risk mitigation strategies and behavioral interventions to reduce children’s exposure to pesticides used in agriculture and respiratory health effects, and to ensure healthy childhood growth.
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spelling pubmed-72543692020-06-10 Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review Buralli, Rafael Junqueira Dultra, Amana Freitas Ribeiro, Helena Int J Environ Res Public Health Review Pesticide exposure may affect children’s respiratory and allergic health, although results from epidemiological studies have not reached consensus. This review aims to analyze the scientific evidence on respiratory and allergic effects of exposure to agricultural pesticides in children aged up to 12 years old. The databases PubMed, Web of Science, Scielo, and Lilacs were screened to select articles published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, and 21 articles were included in this review. Most investigations were conducted in North America (mostly in the United States), while no studies conducted in Latin America or Africa were found, despite their intensive use of pesticides. Children are exposed to pesticides through multiple pathways from the prenatal period throughout later developmental stages and may experience several respiratory effects. Most studies (79%) found positive associations with pesticide exposure and children’s respiratory and allergic effects such as asthma, wheezing, coughs, acute respiratory infections, hay fever, rhinitis, eczema, chronic phlegm, and lung function impairments. Contrastingly, 21% of the studies found no associations between pesticide exposure and children’s respiratory health. The vast differences among the characteristics of the studies hamper any comparison of the results. Exposure to pesticides may have several impacts on childhood respiratory health. More studies must be conducted, especially in low- and middle-income countries, preferably with comparable research protocols adapted to local realities. Efforts should be made to develop comprehensive risk mitigation strategies and behavioral interventions to reduce children’s exposure to pesticides used in agriculture and respiratory health effects, and to ensure healthy childhood growth. MDPI 2020-04-16 2020-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7254369/ /pubmed/32316194 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082740 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Buralli, Rafael Junqueira
Dultra, Amana Freitas
Ribeiro, Helena
Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title_full Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title_fullStr Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title_short Respiratory and Allergic Effects in Children Exposed to Pesticides—A Systematic Review
title_sort respiratory and allergic effects in children exposed to pesticides—a systematic review
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7254369/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32316194
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17082740
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