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Principal Investigator: Raeanne Cristine Moore
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $595,646
Funding agency: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Today, 20% of adolescents and 26% of young adults have a diagnosable internalizing (e.g. anxiety, depression)
or externalizing problem (e.g. impulsivity, aggression, conduct disorders). Neurodevelopmental disabilities and
mental health disorders in adolescents and young adults have increased over the last two decades worldwide,
and environmental contaminants may explain a part of this increase. The most used insecticides worldwide
include organophosphates (OPs: inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE)), pyrethroids and neonicotinoids.
Toxicological and epidemiological evidence links OP exposure with altered neurocognitive performance.
Additionally, a small number of studies have described associations with internalizing symptoms and some
externalizing behaviors (i.e. low inhibitory control). It is plausible neonicotinoids may also affect brain
processes as they share some toxicological mechanisms like OPs and emerging findings indicate pyrethroids
may affect brain processes and neurobehavior. Further, emerging studies suggest that pesticides may
transiently affect cognitive performance and mood. Assessing transient health outcomes is complex, which has
led to limited knowledge on this field. We propose a renewal of our 2016 study of adolescents and young adults
(ages 18-23 years in 2022, n≈554) and builds on the planned 2022 follow-up exam of the NIH-funded Study of
Secondary Pesticide Exposures among Children and Adolescents (ESPINA). The proposed study incorporates a
novel mobile health assessment tool to evaluate the real-world neurotoxic effects of pesticides. ESPINA is a
study established in 2008 of participants residing in Pedro Moncayo, Ecuador, a county with one of the highest
concentrations of flower plantations in the Americas. Leveraging our smartphone-based ecological momentary
cognitive testing (EMCT) platform, we will assess whether recurring and seasonal pesticide exposures in
adolescence and young adulthood affect cognition and mental health. Using a burst sampling design 5
times/year for 2 years during high- and low-pesticide spray seasons, we will test the hypotheses: 1) pesticide
spray seasons are associated with cyclical alterations in internalizing symptoms, externalizing behaviors, and
cognitive performance assessed using EMCT; 2) pesticide exposures (AChE inhibition and OP and pyrethroid
urinary pesticide metabolites) assessed during 5 agricultural periods are related to elevated depressive and
externalizing symptoms, and decreased cognitive performance assessed using EMCT; 3) Urinary pesticide
metabolites (OP, neonicotinoids, pyrethroids) are associated with increased mental health symptoms from
2016 to 2022 when all participants were adolescents, and whether age, sex and COVID-19-related factors (e.g.,
exposure; psychosocial stressors) modify the associations between environmental exposures and mental
health. Identifying cognitive and mental health sequelae related to agricultural pesticide spray seasons on
people living in agricultural settings will advance this understudied field of research and has significant
implications for public health.
Terms: <0-11 years old><12-20 years old><2019 novel corona virus><2019 novel coronavirus><2019-nCoV><7S Gamma Globulin><Acetylcholine Hydrolase><Acetylcholinesterase><Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors><Active Follow-up><Adolescence><Adolescent><Adolescent Youth><Adolescent and Young Adult><Affect><Age><Aggression><Aggressive behavior><Agricultural Chemicals><Agriculture><Agrochemicals><Americas><Anxiety><Assessment instrument><Assessment tool><Attention><Biological Markers><Blood><Blood Reticuloendothelial System><Blossoms><Brain><Brain Nervous System><COVID-19><COVID-19 sequelae><COVID-19 virus><COVID19 virus><CV-19><California><Carbamates><Cell Phone><Cellular Phone><Cellular Telephone><Child><Child Youth><Children (0-21)><CoV-2><CoV2><Cognition><Cognitive><Complex><Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019><County><Development Plans><Disease><Disorder><Economics><Ecuador><Ecuadorian><Emotional Depression><Encephalon><Environment><Environmental Exposure><Environmental Health><Environmental Health Science><Environmental Pollutants><Epidemiology><Exposure to><Flowers><Funding><Future><Health><Health Care Technology><Health Technology><Healthcare Technology><IgG><Immediate Memory><Immunoglobulin G><Impulsivity><Industry><Insecticides><Knowledge><Link><Measures><Memory><Mental Depression><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Mental disorders><Mental health disorders><Mobile Phones><Moods><NIH><National Institutes of Health><Natural experiment><Neurocognitive><Neurodevelopmental Disability><Nutritional><Organophosphates><Outcome><Participant><Performance><Persons><Pesticides><Plant Blooms><Population><Process><Prospective, cohort study><Psyche structure><Psychiatric Disease><Psychiatric Disorder><Psychological Health><Public Health><Reaction Time><Recurrence><Recurrent><Research><Response RT><Response Time><Risk Assessment><SARS corona virus 2><SARS-CO-V2><SARS-COVID-2><SARS-CoV-2><SARS-CoV-2 sequelae><SARS-CoV2><SARS-associated corona virus 2><SARS-associated coronavirus 2><SARS-coronavirus-2><SARS-related corona virus 2><SARS-related coronavirus 2><SARSCoV2><Sampling><Schedule><Seasons><Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Corona Virus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-associated coronavirus 2><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-related coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome associated corona virus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2><Severe acute respiratory syndrome related corona virus 2><Short-Term Memory><Shortterm Memory><Standardization><Substance abuse problem><Survey Instrument><Surveys><Symptoms><System><Testing><Toxicology><United States National Institutes of Health><Universities><Work><Wuhan coronavirus><Youth><Youth 10-21><abuse of substances><acetylcholine acetylhydrolase><acetylcholineesterase inhibition><acetylcholineesterase inhibitor><active followup><adolescence (12-20)><adult youth><aged><ages><agricultural community><agricultural pesticide><bio-markers><biologic marker><biomarker><brain health><choline esterase I><cholinergic><cognitive assessment><cognitive change><cognitive performance><cognitive testing><cohort><community based participatory research><community led research><community participatory research><community partnered participatory research><coronavirus disease 2019><coronavirus disease 2019 virus><coronavirus disease-19><coronavirus disease-19 virus><coronavirus infectious disease-19><depression><depression symptom><depressive><depressive symptoms><design><designing><disability><economic><environmental contaminant><epidemiologic><epidemiological><externalizing behavior><follow up><follow-up><followed up><followup><girls><hCoV19><health assessment><human data><iPhone><improved><individual heterogeneity><individual variability><individual variation><juvenile><juvenile human><kids><m-Health><mHealth><mental><mental illness><mobile assessment><mobile based assessment><mobile health><mood regulation><nCoV2><neurobehavior><neurobehavioral><neurotoxic><novel><nutritious><organophosphate exposure><participatory action research><pesticide exposure><processing speed><prospective><psychiatric illness><psychological disorder><psychomotor reaction time><psychosocial><psychosocial stresses><psychosocial stressors><pyrethroid><sequelae following COVID-19><sequelae following SARS-CoV-2 infection><sequelae of COVID-19><sex><smart phone><smart phone based assessment><smartphone><smartphone based assessment><stressor><substance abuse><toxic organophosphate insecticide exposure><urinary><working memory><young adult><young adulthood><youngster>