A method for assessing occupational pesticide exposures of farmworkers

Background The health of farmworkers as related to pesticide exposure is of concern but assessing exposures for epidemiologic studies requires different techniques than approaches used for studies of industrial workers. Methods A review of the literature identified possible factors that affect exposure intensity. A model was developed to estimate an exposure score. Exposures in the literature were estimated using the model and compared to the measurements in the literature. Results Three studies were found with information appropriate for evaluation of the model. There was a statistical difference between the means of the scores corresponding to above and below the median of the measurements. The correlation coefficient between the scores and the measurements from the literature was 0.77. Conclusions Although the evaluation was limited, the model appeared to work well, but more testing is needed. More research is also needed to increase understanding of what affects the exposures of these workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 40:561–570, 2001. Published 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.