The association between maternal exposure to organophosphate pesticides and neonatal anthropometric measures: A systematic review and meta‑analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological studies on the relationship between organophosphate (OP) pesticide exposure during pregnancy and neonatal anthropometric measures.

In this systematic review and meta analyses, a comprehensive search of the literature for the association of maternal exposure to OP pesticides and birth outcome including birth weight, birth length, and head circumference was conducted from scientific databases of MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane library until the end of April 2019. We used the following keyword to identify the relevant studies: “birth weight,” “birth length,” “pregnancy outcome,”“birth outcome,” “organophosphate pesticides,” and “organophosphate metabolites.” Only English language studies investigating the relationship between pregnant mothers’ exposure to OP metabolites and birth outcomes were examined.

Of the 10 articles reviewed, eight studies used to assess the association with birth weight, as well as five, and six studies were used in meta analysis to determine the association between OP exposure and birth length and head circumference. Pooled estimates were performed using a fixed effects model or random effects model. No significant association was observed between maternal exposure to OPs and birth weight (β = 1.520;95% confidence interval [CI] [−10.781, 13.820]), birth length (β = −0.011; [−0.132, 0.109]), and head circumference (β =0.022; 95%CI [−0.06, 0.103]).

Although the effect of maternal exposure to OP on the birth outcome is not completely clear, strategies should be adopted to control the use of these substances.