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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jul 3.
Published in final edited form as: Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2018 Mar 26;346:58–75. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2018.03.025

Table 2.

Studies associating occupational pesticide exposures with congenital malformations.

Studies Pesticides Tested General
Association		 MSAs/
Association		 Circulatory-
Respiratory/
Association		 UGAs/
Association		 NTDs/
Association		 Clefts/
Association		 Other/
Association		 Exposure
Assessment		 Study Type/
Sample size		 Region Confounding Factors
(Restrepo et al., 1990) Phenoxy herbicides − +/− +/− +/− − +/− + Questionnaire based interviews Nested case-control/665 Colombia

  • Consanguinity

  • Family history of congenital malformation

  • Diseases during pregnancy

  • Vaginal bleeding during pregnancy

  • Mumps during pregnancy

  • Varicella during pregnancy

  • Toxoplasmosis

  • x-ray exposure during pregnancy

  • Diazepam/Contraceptive pills/Pregnancy test with estrogens/Piperazine/Vitamins/Iron/Other drugs Tob acco smoking/Alcohol drinking

  • Exposure to chemicals
(Dimich-Ward et al., 1996) Chlorophenate wood preservatives + +/− +/− + + +/− + Minnesota Department of Agriculture data Case-control/19,675 Minnesota (USA)

  • Maternal age

  • Education

  • smoking/alcohol consumption

  • previous miscarriage/earlier births with anomalies
(Garry et al., 1996) 2,4-D, alachlor, atrazine, bentazon, bromoxynil, cyanazine, dicamba, EPTC, imazethapyr, MCPA, metolachlor, trifluralin + + + + + − +/− Cohort of sawmill workers/Expert raters’ estimation Epidemiological/210,723 British Columbia

  • Not used

  • Matching by birth year and gender
(Kristensen et al., 1997) Unspecified − + − + + +/− − Agricultural/horticultural census information Cohort/253,768 Norway

  • Year of birth

  • Geographical distribution

  • Maternal age/parental consanguinity/birth order maternal chronic disease/previous stillbirth

  • Infant sex

  • Multiple births/perinatal birth/preterm delivery/low birth weight

  • Animal husbandry

  • Pesticide purchase/tractor pesticide spraying equipment/grain/horticulture farming
(Shaw et al., 1999) Unspecified − +/− +/− − + +/− − Telephone interviews/Exposure assessed by industrial hygienist Case-control/2,033 California

  • Maternal periconceptional vitamin use

  • Smoking

  • Education/race/ethnicity
(Garcia et al., 1999) Unspecified + + + + + + + Telephone interviews Case-control/522 Spain

  • Age

  • Smoking/alcohol consumption/drug use

  • Medical history/health of the immediate family/

  • Socioeconomic data/reproductive history including problems during the index pregnancy
(Garry et al., 2002) 14 types of pesticides + + + + + − + Telephone interviews/Questionnaires Cross-sectional/1,532 Minnesota (USA)

  • Maternal smoking/alcohol consumption/age/chronic diseases (e.g. diabetes and hypertension)/season of conception
(Salazar-Garcia et al., 2004) DDT + + + − + + + Questionnaire/Exposure assigned by experts Nested cross-sectional/9,187 Mexico

  • Parental exposure to other OCs and/or OPs pesticides at the time of pregnancy/exposure to other chemical substances/exposure to agricultural pesticides/

  • Tobacco/alcohol consumption/parental age/socioeconomic status

CAs: Congenital Abnormalities; EPTC: S-Ethyl dipropylcarbamothioate; MCPA: 2-Methyl-4-Chlorophenoxyacetic Acid; MSAs: Musculoskeletal Abnormalities; NTDs: Neural Tube Defects; OPs: Organophosphates; OR: Odds Ratio; UGAs: Urogenital Abnormalities; 95% CI: 95% Confidence Interval; +: association detected; −: no association detected; +/−: trend towards association (not statistically significant).