Survey study finds high pesticide exposure events linked to subjective but not objective olfactory dysfunction in farmers, highlighting the need for direct sensory testing.
Key Points
To evaluate the association between high pesticide exposure events and both self-reported and objectively measured olfactory dysfunction in farmers.
Cross-sectional survey study analyzed 2,545 farmers (mean age 70.3 years; 96.9% male) from Iowa and North Carolina enrolled in the Pesticide and Sense of Smell (PASS) subcohort of the Agricultural Health Study.
High pesticide exposure events were self-reported across study phases, while olfactory dysfunction was assessed through questionnaires and the 12-item Brief Smell Identification Test (dysfunction defined as score ≤8) with inverse probability weighting.
Self-reported olfactory dysfunction was significantly more common among farmers with high pesticide exposure events (weighted prevalence 21.2%; 95% CI, 18.1%-24.3%) than those without (15.1%; 95% CI, 12.9%-17.3%), yielding a relative risk of 1.30 (95% CI, 1.04-1.62).
Pesticide exposure was not associated with objective olfactory dysfunction on the Brief Smell Identification Test (RR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.83-1.15) or perceived difficulty identifying odors during testing (RR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.78-1.13).