Skip to main content
NCBI home page
American Journal of Public Health logoLink to American Journal of Public Health
. 1988 Jun;78(6):654–658. doi: 10.2105/ajph.78.6.654

Congenital limb reduction defects in the agricultural setting.

D A Schwartz 1, J P LoGerfo 1
PMCID: PMC1350276  PMID: 3369595

Abstract

To ascertain whether parental involvement in agricultural work and residence in an agricultural setting are associated with the development of congenital limb reduction defects, we carried out a case-control study using California birth records from 1982, 1983, and 1984. Cases with limb reduction defects (N = 237) and randomly selected controls (N = 475) were compared regarding parental occupation and maternal county of residence. After adjustment for potential confounders in a multivariate analysis, the estimated relative risk (RR) of parenting a child with a limb reduction defect among parents involved in agricultural work was 0.9 (95 per cent confidence limits = 0.4, 1.7). The RR among mothers who resided in a county of high agricultural productivity as compared with minimal agricultural productivity was 1.7 (95% CL = 1.1, 2.7), while the RR associated with residence in a county with high pesticide use as compared with minimal pesticide use was 1.9 (95% CL = 1.2, 3.1). When we limited the cases to children with limb reduction defects who had at least one additional anomaly (n = 79) and compared them to the control births, the corresponding RRs were 1.6 (95% CL = 0.7, 3.6), for parental involvement in agricultural work, 2.4 (CL = 1.2, 4.7) for county agricultural productivity, and 3.1 (CL = 1.5, 6.5) for county pesticide use.

Full text

PDF
654

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Båge G., Cekanova E., Larsson K. S. Teratogenic and embryotoxic of the herbicides di- and trichlorophenoxyacetic acids (2,4-D and 2,4,5-T). Acta Pharmacol Toxicol (Copenh) 1973;32(6):408–416. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0773.1973.tb01487.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Carucci P. M., Prasad S. A comparison of mothers' occupations reported on live births certificates and on a survey questionnaire. Public Health Rep. 1979 Sep-Oct;94(5):432–437. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Correy J. F., Newman N. M. Debendox and limb reduction deformities. Med J Aust. 1981 Apr 18;1(8):417–418. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1981.tb135685.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. D'Ercole A. J., Arthur R. D., Cain J. D., Barrentine B. F. Insecticide exposure of mothers and newborns in a rural agricultural area. Pediatrics. 1976 Jun;57(6):869–874. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Gordon J. E., Shy C. M. Agricultural chemical use and congenital cleft lip and/or palate. Arch Environ Health. 1981 Sep-Oct;36(5):213–221. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1981.10667627. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hall J. G., McLaughlin J. F., Stamm S. Coarctation of the aorta in male cousins with similar maternal environmental exposure to insect repellent and insecticides. Pediatrics. 1975 Mar;55(3):425–427. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hemminki K., Mutanen P., Luoma K., Saloniemi I. Congenital malformations by the parental occupation in Finland. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1980;46(2):93–98. doi: 10.1007/BF00378188. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Janerich D. T., Piper J. M., Glebatis D. M. Oral contraceptives and congenital limb-reduction defects. N Engl J Med. 1974 Oct 3;291(14):697–700. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197410032911403. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Johnson R. B., Goldsmith L. A. Dilantin digital defects. J Am Acad Dermatol. 1981 Aug;5(2):191–196. doi: 10.1016/s0190-9622(81)70087-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Larsson K. S., Arnander C., Cekanova E., Kjellberg M. Studies of teratogenic effects of the dithiocarbamates maneb, mancozeb, and propineb. Teratology. 1976 Oct;14(2):171–183. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420140208. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Loughnan P. M., Gold H., Vance J. C. Phenytoin teratogenicity in man. Lancet. 1973 Jan 13;1(7794):70–72. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)90467-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McCullar F. W., Heggeness L. Limb malformations following maternal use of haloperidol. JAMA. 1975 Jan 6;231(1):62–64. doi: 10.1001/jama.231.1.62. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Miettinen O. Estimability and estimation in case-referent studies. Am J Epidemiol. 1976 Feb;103(2):226–235. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112220. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Schwartz D. A., Newsum L. A., Heifetz R. M. Parental occupation and birth outcome in an agricultural community. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1986 Feb;12(1):51–54. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.2180. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Staples R. E., Kellam R. G., Haseman J. K. Developmental toxicity in the rat after ingestion or gavage of organophosphate pesticides (Dipterex, Imidan) during pregnancy. Environ Health Perspect. 1976 Feb;13:133–140. doi: 10.1289/ehp.7613133. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Weis P., Weis J. S. Abnormal locomotion associated with skeletal malformations in the sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, exposed to malathion. Environ Res. 1976 Oct;12(2):196–200. doi: 10.1016/0013-9351(76)90024-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. van Rensburg L. J. Major skeletal defects in the fetal alcohol syndrome. A case report. S Afr Med J. 1981 May 2;59(19):687–688. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Public Health are provided here courtesy of American Public Health Association

RESOURCES