Specific agricultural pesticides, solvents, and chemical fertilizers may increase risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in women, while exposures involving animal contact may be protective, a recent study found. Researchers examined associations between RA and pesticides and other agricultural exposures among female spouses of licensed pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. Women (n=275 total, 132 incident; 24,018 non-cases) were enrolled in the study from 1993 to 1997 and followed through 2010. They found:

•Overall, women with RA were somewhat more likely to have reported lifetime use of any specific pesticide versus no pesticides.

• Of 15 pesticides examined, maneb/mancozeb and glyphosate were associated with incident RA compared with no pesticide use.

• An elevated, but non-statistically significant, association with incident RA was seen for DDT.

• Incident RA was also associated with the application of chemical fertilizers and cleaning with solvents, but inversely associated with lifetime livestock exposure as a child and adult, compared with no livestock exposure.

Citation: Parks CG, Hoppin JA, DeRoos AJ, Costenbader KH, Alavanja MC, Sandler DP. Rheumatoid arthritis in agricultural health study spouses: Associations with pesticides and other farm exposures. [Published online ahead of print June 10, 2016]. Environ Health Perspect. doi:10.1289/EHP129.