Residential Proximity to Agricultural Fields and Neurological and Mental Health Outcomes in Rural Adults in Matlab, Bangladesh

Khalid M. Khan, Janesh Karnati, Ipsita Hamid, David Koceja, Mohammad Zahirul Islam and Md Alfazal Khan
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Khalid M. Khan: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Janesh Karnati: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Ipsita Hamid: Cardiovascular Research Center, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA
David Koceja: Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, Indiana University-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
Mohammad Zahirul Islam: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh
Md Alfazal Khan: Matlab Health Research Centre, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (icddr,b), Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-12

Abstract: Pesticide exposure is an important rural public health concern that is linked to a spectrum of health outcomes in farmers. However, little is known about these effects on residents living in close proximity to agricultural fields and who are not involved in regular farming. This paper compared the effects of residential proximity to farming lands on a number of neurological and mental health outcomes in adults. A cross-sectional study was performed on 57 adults involved in farming only occasionally in rural Matlab in Bangladesh. A health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) and geocoding were used to define proximity to the agricultural field. Neurological health was measured using the trail making test, vibrotactile threshold measurement, and dominant ulnar nerve conduction velocity (NCV) amplitude. An adapted Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D) questionnaire was used to evaluate mental health. Results indicated that respondents living near agricultural fields had significantly higher vibrotactile threshold in big toes ( p < 0.004) and needed a longer time to complete the trail making test ( p < 0.004) than those living far from fields after accounting for the covariates. Results of this pilot study suggest further investigations to establish the impact of pesticide exposure among occasional and non-farmers on neurological health outcomes.

Keywords: neurological outcome; pesticide exposure; residential proximity; rural Bangladesh (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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