Epidemiological Studies on Contact Dermatitis from Pesticides and Causative Factors Related to Patch Testing

• Published in: JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE Vol. 35; no. 5; pp. 909 - 916
• Main Authors: MANDA, Fumi, UEDA, Tadako, MATSUSHITA, Toshio, UEDA, Atsushi, AOYAMA, Kohji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE 30.01.1987
• ISSN: 0468-2513; 1349-7421
• DOI: 10.2185/jjrm.35.909

In order to clarify the actual conditions and mechanism of contact dermatitis from pesticides, a field survey including patch testing with 11 pesticides and formaldehyde was carried out on 111 subjects who engaged in farming in the plastic greenhouse mainly. The relationship between skin sensitization due to pesticides and conditions of pesticide exposure was also studied. The results were as follows; 1) About half of subjects (52%) have been suffered from health hazards due to pesticides. Among the symptoms complained, dermatitis was most frequent (32%) as compared with acute poisoning such as headache (12%), general fatigue (9 %) and so on. The causative pesticides of those dermatitis were mainly Difolatan (72%), Daconil (8 %), and Gramoxone (8%). 2) Relatively higher rates of positive reaction of patch testing were observed in Difolatan (43%) in male, and Difolatan (25%), Topsin M (24%), Rovral (24%) in female. A positive reaction with more than one substance tested were seen in 31 males (55%) and 31 females (55%). 3) Among 11 kinds of pesticides tested, positive correlations between the skin reaction of patch testing and the use of corresponding pesticides were found only in Orthocide (r = 0.233) and Daconil (0.203). 4) From the Cluster Analysis, 16 kinds of using pesticides were classified into 3 clusters with similarity to patch test reactions. It was also suggested from the Dendrogram that there might be cross reactions among patch testing pesticides. 5) By Multiple Regression Analysis, no factor which contributed remarkably to skin sensitization was clarified. And, it was suggested that many kinds of factor were complicatedly related to skin sensitization.