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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 8.

Studies associating pesticides with heart and other malformations.

Studies Association Pesticide Tested CAs Tested Exposure Type Exposure Assessment Study Type/
Sample Size
Region Confounding Factors
(Loffredo et al., 2001) + and +/− Unspecified Great Arteries Transposition/Laterality and looping defects/Non-TGA cardiac outflow tract anomalies/Endocardial cushion defects/Left-sided obstructive lesions/Pulmonic stenosis/VSDs/Atrial septal defects Environmental Interviews, Questionnaires Case Control/837 Maryland/District of Columbia/adjacent counties of northern Virginia
  • Race/socioeconomic status

  • Maternal age

  • Maternal smoking/alcohol use/family history of heart defects/maternal diabetes/maternal solvent exposures

  • Paternal pesticide exposures

(Agopian et al., 2013c) + Atrazine (crops) Choanal atresia/stenosis Environmental Registry/US Geological Survey Data Case-control/4000 Texas
  • Infant sex

  • Season of conception/birth year

  • Maternal age/race/ethnicity/education/smoking status

(Carmichael et al., 2014) + and +/− 461 individual chemicals and 62 physicochemical groupings Heterotaxia/Tetralogy of Fallot/D-transposition of the great arteries/Hypoplastic left heart syndrome/Coarctation of the aorta/Pulmonary valve stenosis/Perimembranous VSD/Atrial septal defect secundum Environmental Interviews/Questionnaires/Pesticide use report records/Geocoding Case-control/1354 San Joaquin Valley (California)
  • Maternal race/ethnicity/education/age

  • Folic acid supplements use/alcohol/smoking during the month before and the first two months of pregnancy

(Rocheleau et al., 2015) + and +/− Fungicides/Insecticides/Herbicides Congenital heart defects Occupational Expert-guided task-exposure matrix/self-reported job history details Case-control/6316 USA
  • Maternal age

  • Parental race/ethnicity/birth outside the US/education/income

  • Pre-pregnancy BMI/folic acid intake/smoking/alcohol use

  • Parity

  • Pre-pregnancy diabetes/the NBDPS site/first-degree family history of CVAs

  • Multiple pregnancy/gestational diabetes in the index pregnancy

EUROCAT: European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies; TGA: Transposition of Great Arteries; CVAs: Cardiovascular Abnormalities; 95% CI: 95% Confidence Interval; +: association detected; −: no association detected; +/−: trend towards association (not statistically significant).