Abstract

MENDONCA GUIMARAES, Raphael et al. The impact of agricultural pesticide use on the prevalence of perinatal outcomes in Brazil. Bol Mal Salud Amb [online]. 2014, vol.54, n.1, pp.88-94. ISSN 1690-4648.

Contamination with pesticides has generated discussion about their impacts on the environment and health. Natal and neonatal periods represent windows of susceptibility to the effects of pesticides. In this study we used a descriptive ecological design with the aim of verifying a possible association between the per capita consumption of pesticides and events of pregnancy and birth, using the amount of pesticides consumed in 1997 and 2001 in Brazilian states. The data was obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and the Live Birth Information System. The study received no funding, and thus employed public databases of populations without individual analysis. For the calculations we used the per capita consumption of pesticides classified into three groups with the distribution of the tertiles in ascending order. The database of the Information Department at the SUS (Unified Health System) was used to analyze the pregnancy outcome variables. The results show an association between pesticide consumption and premature births, and pesticide consumption and low birth weight, although the latter could also be a confounding effect.

Keywords : Pesticide consumption; Perinatal outcomes; Impacts.

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