RESEARCH REPORT

Respiratory diseases and pesticide exposure: a case-control study in Lebanon

Pascale Salameh¹, Mirna Waked², Isabelle Baldi³, Patrick Brochard³, Bernadette Abi Saleh¹

¹ Lebanese University, Lebanon
² Balamand University, Lebanon
³ ISPED, Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2 University, France

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr P Salameh
Jdeidet El Meten, Chalet Suisse Street, Ramza Azzam bldg, 5th floor, Beirut, Lebanon; pascalesalameh{at}yahoo.com

Study objective: To evaluate the odds of being exposed to pesticides in asthmatic adults.

Design: A case-control study was performed in Lebanon.

Setting: People were approached when consulting physicians as outpatients.

Patients: Asthmatic patients and non-asthmatic controls in several Lebanese hospitals were interviewed.

Main results: The study included 407 subjects from 10 medical centres. Any exposure to pesticides was associated to asthma (OR = 2.11 (1.47 to 3.02); p<10^–4). Occupational use presented the highest association (OR = 4.98 (1.07 to 23.28); p = 0.02), followed by regional exposure (OR 3.51 (2.11 to 5.85); p<10^–4). Results were confirmed by multivariate analysis, particularly for regional exposure (OR_a = 2.78; p = 0.02) and house exposure (OR_a = 2.17; p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Results are comparable to those found in other studies; especially for occupational exposure. Pesticides toxicological effects may explain chronic respiratory symptoms and asthma associations found with all exposure types. Pesticide exposure was associated with asthma in Lebanese adults.

Keywords: pesticides; non-occupational exposure; respiratory disease; asthma; adults

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