Respiratory diseases and pesticide exposure: a case-control study in Lebanon.

Study Objective: To evaluate the odds of being exposed to pesticides in asthmatic adults.

Design: A case-control study was performed in Lebanon.

Setting: People were approached when consulting physicians as outpatients.

Patients: Asthmatic patients and non-asthmatic controls in several Lebanese hospitals were interviewed.

Main Results: The study included 407 subjects from 10 medical centres. Any exposure to pesticides was associated to asthma (OR = 2.11 (1.47 to 3.02); p<10(-4)). Occupational use presented the highest association (OR = 4.98 (1.07 to 23.28); p = 0.02), followed by regional exposure (OR 3.51 (2.11 to 5.85); p<10(-4)). Results were confirmed by multivariate analysis, particularly for regional exposure (OR(a) = 2.78; p = 0.02) and house exposure (OR(a) = 2.17; p = 0.001).

Conclusions: Results are comparable to those found in other studies; especially for occupational exposure. Pesticides toxicological effects may explain chronic respiratory symptoms and asthma associations found with all exposure types. Pesticide exposure was associated with asthma in Lebanese adults.