Prenatal and postnatal exposure to pesticides and school-age children's cognitive ability in rural Bogotá, Colombia.

Colombia is one of the largest pesticide consumers in South America. These products have a variety of negative consequences on the health of rural populations, especially neurocognitive disorders in children. In this work, the prenatal and postnatal exposure to pesticides was evaluated and the association between the cognitive capacity of school-age children in rural areas of the city of Bogotá, Colombia, investigated. Separate multiple linear regression models were used to evaluate associations of pesticide exposure measures and WISC-IV scales, adjusted for child sex, maternal educational attainment, growth retardation, and effect modification explored by sex, using a cross products term of 232 children between the ages of 7 and 10. It was found that among all children, pesticide exposure at school was associated with a worse working memory index (ß = -3.40; 95%CI; -6.6; -0.2) and a worst verbal comprehension index (ß = -3.2; 95%CI; -6.5; -0.2). Among girls, pesticide use at home was associated with a worse processing speed index (ß = -5.1; 95% CI; -10.1; -0.20) but not among boys (ß = 1.73; 95% CI; -2.6; 6.9). This revealed an association between the prenatal and postnatal exposure reported and some IQ sub-indices of children aged between 7 and 10 years residing in the rural areas of Usme and Sumapaz in the city of Bogotá, Colombia.

Exposure levels to PM2.5 and black carbon for people with disabilities in rural homes of Colombia.

Indoor exposure to air pollutants emitted by solid fuels used for cooking or heating homes remains as a problem to solve. The most affected people are newborns, mothers, children, and people with disabilities, due to the time they spend at home. This study is the first in a rural area of South America, which measures indoor air pollutants (PM2.5 and black carbon) in different environments, inhabited by people with disabilities. The research was supported through a sociodemographic characterization, a methodology useful for future studies, continuous monitoring for 72 h of pollutants, and emission sources, cooking habits, and pre-existing diseases were identified. The primary sources of emissions are improved wood-burning stoves and their chimney. In households where firewood is used, the average concentrations of PM2.5 were the highest (between 10.9 and 3302.5 µg/m3), as were the average concentrations of BC (average 72 h between 2.6 and 51.2 µg/m3) compared with the houses that use gas (average 72 h between 2.6 and 6 µg/m3). In 57% of the households visited, the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for PM2.5 (25 µg/m3 for 24 h) were exceeded. The results reveal that rural concentrations of BC can be up to 2.5 times higher than those of an urban area with high vehicular traffic and high population density and could be used to establish a baseline that allows the implementation of control mechanisms to reduce pollution of indoor air.