Introduction: The use of pesticides has shown an increasing trend worldwide during the last years. Likewise, the association between the occupational exposure to pesticides and the risk of presenting mental health outcomes has been studied more in detail, although, little has been investigated in Colombia about the existing relationship between the occupational exposure to pesticides and the development of depression, despite of being a country with a wide agricultural industry and a high use of these products, and therefore, a great population exposed occupationally. Objective: To identify the association between depression and the occupational exposure to pesticides. Materials and methods: The selected terms, the search strategy, and the review of world scientific literature (in Spanish and English) during 2010 -2020, allowed to identify 19 articles that studied the correlation between depression and the occupational exposure to pesticides. The review was conducted using the PubMed and EBSCO databases, using MESH terms and Boolean operators (depression AND pesticides AND occupational).Conclusion: Different types or studies reported a depression risk in workers exposed to some types of pesticides; however the information is very limited, inconclusive and the studies have multiples limitations, demonstrating the need to keep the research about this possible association, improving the sample size and selection, gathering more reliable information and detailing the data about the time and intensity of exposure to pesticides.
publication date
December 14, 2020 9:26 PM
Research
keywords
Chemical occupational hazard
Occupational exposure to chemicals that affects mental health
