| Neurobehavioral Performance and Work Experience in Florida Farmworkers Freya Kamel,1 Andrew S. Rowland,2 Lawrence P. Park,3 W. Kent Anger,4 Donna D. Baird,1 Beth C. Gladen,1 Tirso Moreno,5 Lillian Stallone,6 and Dale P. Sandler1 1National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA; 2University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA; 3Westat, Durham, North Carolina, USA; 4Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA; 5Farmworkers Association of Florida, Apopka, Florida, USA; 6CODA, Durham, North Carolina, USA Abstract
Farmworkers experience many work-related hazards, including exposure to neurotoxicants. We compared neurobehavioral performance of 288 farmworkers in central Florida who had done farm work for at least 1 month with 51 controls who had not. Most of the farmworkers had worked in one or more of three types of agriculture: ornamental ferns, nurseries, or citrus fruit. We collected information on farm work history in a structured interview and evaluated neurobehavioral performance using a battery of eight tests. Analyses were adjusted for established confounders including age, sex, education, and acculturation. Ever having done farm work was associated with poor performance on four tests--digit span [odds ratio (OR) = 1.90 ; 95% confidence interval (CI) , 1.02-3.53], tapping (coefficient = 4.13 ; 95% CI, 0.00-8.27) , Santa Ana test (coefficient = 1.34 ; 95% CI, 0.29-2.39) , and postural sway (coefficient = 4.74 ; 95% CI, -2.20 to 11.7) --but had little effect on four others: symbol digit latency, vibrotactile threshold, visual contrast sensitivity, and grip strength. Associations with farm work were similar in magnitude to associations with personal characteristics such as age and sex. Longer duration of farm work was associated with worse performance. Associations with fern work were more consistent than associations with nursery or citrus work. Deficits related to the duration of work experience were seen in former as well as current farmworkers, and decreased performance was related to chronic exposure even in the absence of a history of pesticide poisoning. We conclude that long-term experience of farm work is associated with measurable deficits in cognitive and psychomotor function. Key words: citrus fruit, cognitive function, farm work, neurobehavioral performance, nurseries, ornamental ferns, psychomotor function. Environ Health Perspect 111:1765-1772 (2003) . doi:10.1289/ehp.6341 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 23 July 2003] Address correspondence to F. Kamel, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Box 12233, MD A3-05, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 USA. Telephone: (919) 541-1581. Fax: (919) 541 2511. E-mail: kamel@niehs.nih.gov We are grateful to the staff of the Farmworkers Association of Florida, particularly G. Grimes, A. Bahena, C. Cabrera, L. Milien, and R. Rodriguez ; to the CODA study supervisors G. Ramírez-Garnica and M. Bizzio ; to D.S. Rohlman and O.J. Sizemore for developing the test battery ; and to the community members who participated in the study. The authors declare they have no conflict of interest. Received 18 March 2003 ; accepted 23 July 2003.
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