Associations of overall pesticide exposure variables with allergic and nonallergic asthma in 19,704 male farmers from the Agricultural Health Study
| Controls n (%) | Allergic asthma | Nonallergic asthma | |||
| Subjects n (%) | OR (95% CI)# | Subjects n (%) | OR (95% CI)# | ||
| Subjects n | 19263 | 127 | 314 | ||
| Pesticide application | |||||
| <5 days·yr−1 | 3464 (19) | 27 (21) | 1.00 | 52 (18) | 1.00 |
| 5–9 days·yr−1 | 4649 (25) | 29 (23) | 0.78 (0.46–1.32) | 69 (23) | 0.95 (0.66–1.37) |
| 10–19 days·yr−1 | 5683 (31) | 41 (32) | 0.94 (0.57–1.54) | 97 (33) | 1.18 (0.84–1.67) |
| 20–39 days·yr−1 | 3303 (18) | 22 (17) | 0.92 (0.52–1.65) | 55 (19) | 1.29 (0.87–1.90) |
| ≥40 days·yr−1 | 1366 (7) | 8 (6) | 0.84 (0.38–1.88) | 23 (8) | 1.40 (0.84–2.32) |
| Pesticides applied | |||||
| <5 yrs | 2206 (12) | 11 (9) | 1.00 | 21 (7) | 1.00 |
| 6–10 yrs | 2640 (14) | 7 (6) | 0.51 (0.20–1.33) | 34 (11) | 1.29 (0.75–2.24) |
| 11–20 yrs | 6102 (33) | 36 (28) | 1.07 (0.54–2.12) | 85 (29) | 1.23 (0.75–1.99) |
| 21–30 yrs | 4710 (25) | 48 (38) | 1.53 (0.77–3.06) | 83 (28) | 1.11 (0.68–1.82) |
| ≥31 yrs | 2908 (16) | 25 (20) | 0.99 (0.46–2.12) | 74 (25) | 1.18 (0.71–1.98) |
| HPEE | 2744 (14) | 30 (24) | 1.98 (1.30–2.99) | 73 (23) | 1.96 (1.49–2.56) |
| No respiratory exposure | 1745 (9) | 16 (13) | 1.70 (0.99–2.91) | 39 (12) | 1.72 (1.22–2.44) |
| Respiratory exposure | 955 (5) | 14 (11) | 2.53 (1.44–4.46) | 34 (11) | 2.41 (1.67–3.49) |
| Decade of first HPEE | |||||
| 1940s–1960s | 363 (2) | 6 (5) | 2.11 (0.91–4.89) | 16 (5) | 2.09 (1.24–3.52) |
| 1970s | 700 (4) | 9 (7) | 2.26 (1.13–4.53) | 16 (5) | 1.58 (0.94–2.65) |
| 1980s–1990s | 1419 (7) | 14 (11) | 2.10 (1.18–3.73) | 30 (10) | 1.95 (1.32–2.88) |
| Pesticide poisoning | 381 (2) | 7 (6) | 1.95 (0.86–4.39) | 11 (4) | 1.10 (0.58–2.07) |
Percentages were calculated excluding missing data. HPEE: high pesticide exposure event. #: adjusted for age, US state, smoking, HPEE and body mass index.