1
|
Dalton KR, Lee M, Wang Z, Zhao S, Parks CG, Beane-Freeman LE, Motsinger-Reif AA, London SJ. Occupational farm work activities influence workers' indoor home microbiome. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 243:117819. [PMID: 38052359 PMCID: PMC10872285 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Farm work entails a heterogeneous mixture of exposures that vary considerably across farms and farmers. Farm work is associated with various health outcomes, both adverse and beneficial. One mechanism by which farming exposures can impact health is through the microbiome, including the indoor home environment microbiome. It is unknown how individual occupational exposures shape the microbial composition in workers' homes. OBJECTIVES We investigated associations between farm work activities, including specific tasks and pesticide use, and the indoor microbiome in the homes of 468 male farmers. METHODS Participants were licensed pesticide applicators, mostly farmers, enrolled in the Agricultural Lung Health Study from 2008 to 2011. Vacuumed dust from participants' bedrooms underwent whole-genome shotgun sequencing for indoor microbiome assessment. Using questionnaire data, we evaluated 6 farm work tasks (processing of either hay, silage, animal feed, fertilizer, or soy/grains, and cleaning grain bins) and 19 pesticide ingredients currently used in the past year, plus 7 banned persistent pesticide ingredients ever used. RESULTS All 6 work tasks were associated with increased microbial diversity levels, with a positive dose-response for the total number of tasks performed (P = 0.001). All tasks were associated with altered microbial compositions (weighted UniFrac P = 0.001) and with higher abundance of specific microbes, including soil-based commensal microbes such as Haloterrigena. Among the 19 pesticides, current use of glyphosate and past use of lindane were associated with increased microbial diversity (P = 0.02-0.04). Ten currently used pesticides and all 7 banned pesticides were associated with altered microbial composition (P = 0.001-0.04). Six pesticides were associated with differential abundance of certain microbes. DISCUSSION Different farm activities and exposures can uniquely impact the dust microbiome inside homes. Our work suggests that changes to the home microbiome could serve as one pathway for how occupational exposures impact the health of workers and their cohabitating family members, offering possible future intervention targets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R Dalton
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Mikyeong Lee
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ziyue Wang
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Shanshan Zhao
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Christine G Parks
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Laura E Beane-Freeman
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Alison A Motsinger-Reif
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Stephanie J London
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Dalton KR, Lee M, Wang Z, Zhao S, Parks CG, Beane-Freeman LE, Motsinger-Reif AA, London SJ. Occupational Farm Work Activities Influence Workers' Indoor Home Microbiome. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.08.17.23293194. [PMID: 37662364 PMCID: PMC10473816 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.17.23293194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Background Farm work entails a heterogeneous mixture of exposures that vary considerably across farms and farmers. Farm work is associated with various health outcomes, both adverse and beneficial. One mechanism by which farming exposures can impact health is through the microbiome, including the indoor built environment microbiome. It is unknown how individual occupational exposures shape the microbial composition in workers' homes. Objectives We investigated associations between farm work activities, including specific tasks and pesticide use, and the indoor microbiome in the homes of 468 male farmers. Methods Participants were licensed pesticide applicators, mostly farmers, enrolled in the Agricultural Lung Health Study from 2008-2011. Vacuumed dust from participants' bedrooms underwent whole-genome shotgun sequencing for indoor microbiome assessment. Using questionnaire data, we evaluated 6 farm work tasks (processing of either hay, silage, animal feed, fertilizer, or soy/grains, and cleaning grain bins) and 19 pesticide ingredients currently used in the past year, plus 7 persistent banned pesticide ingredients ever used. Results All 6 work tasks were associated with increased within-sample microbial diversity, with a positive dose-response for the sum of tasks (p=0.001). All tasks were associated with altered overall microbial compositions (weighted UniFrac p=0.001) and with higher abundance of specific microbes, including soil-based microbes such as Haloterrigena. Among the 19 pesticides, only current use of glyphosate and past use of lindane were associated with increased within-sample diversity (p=0.02-0.04). Ten currently used pesticides and all 7 banned pesticides were associated with altered microbial composition (p=0.001-0.04). Six pesticides were associated with differential abundance of certain microbes. Discussion Specific farm activities and exposures can impact the dust microbiome inside homes. Our work suggests that occupational farm exposures could impact the health of workers and their families through modifying the indoor environment, specifically the microbial composition of house dust, offering possible future intervention targets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R. Dalton
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Mikyeong Lee
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Ziyue Wang
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Shanshan Zhao
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Christine G. Parks
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Laura E. Beane-Freeman
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Alison A. Motsinger-Reif
- Biostatistics and Computational Biology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Stephanie J. London
- Genomics and the Environment in Respiratory and Allergic Health Group, Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Durham, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Friesen MC, Xie S, Sauvé JF, Viet SM, Josse PR, Locke SJ, Hung F, Andreotti G, Thorne PS, Hofmann JN, Beane Freeman LE. An algorithm for quantitatively estimating occupational endotoxin exposure in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) study: I. Development of task-specific exposure levels from published data. Am J Ind Med 2023; 66:561-572. [PMID: 37087684 DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE Farmers conduct numerous tasks with potential for endotoxin exposure. As a first step to characterize endotoxin exposure for farmers in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) Study, we used published data to estimate task-specific endotoxin concentrations. METHODS We extracted published data on task-specific, personal, inhalable endotoxin concentrations for agricultural tasks queried in the study questionnaire. The data, usually abstracted as summary measures, were evaluated using meta-regression models that weighted each geometric mean (GM, natural-log transformed) by the inverse of its within-study variance to obtain task-specific predicted GMs. RESULTS We extracted 90 endotoxin summary statistics from 26 studies for 9 animal-related tasks, 30 summary statistics from 6 studies for 3 crop-related tasks, and 10 summary statistics from 5 studies for 4 stored grain-related tasks. Work in poultry and swine confinement facilities, grinding feed, veterinarian services, and cleaning grain bins had predicted GMs > 1000 EU/m3 . In contrast, harvesting or hauling grain and other crop-related tasks had predicted GMs below 100 EU/m3 . SIGNIFICANCE These task-specific endotoxin GMs demonstrated exposure variability across common agricultural tasks. These estimates will be used in conjunction with questionnaire responses on task duration to quantitatively estimate endotoxin exposure for study participants, described in a companion paper.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Melissa C Friesen
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Shuai Xie
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Jean-François Sauvé
- Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France (work was done while at Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | | | - Pabitra R Josse
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Sarah J Locke
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Felicia Hung
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Gabriella Andreotti
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Peter S Thorne
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA
| | - Jonathan N Hofmann
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Laura E Beane Freeman
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Friesen MC, Beane Freeman LE, Locke SJ, Josse PR, Xie S, Viet SM, Sauvé JF, Andreotti G, Thorne PS, Hofmann JN. An algorithm for quantitatively estimating occupational endotoxin exposure in the biomarkers of exposure and effect in agriculture study: II. Application to the study population. Am J Ind Med 2023; 66:573-586. [PMID: 37087683 PMCID: PMC10265745 DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 04/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND We developed an algorithm to quantitatively estimate endotoxin exposure for farmers in the Biomarkers of Exposure and Effect in Agriculture (BEEA) Study. METHODS The algorithm combined task intensity estimates derived from published data with questionnaire responses on activity duration to estimate task-specific cumulative endotoxin exposures for 13 tasks during four time windows, ranging from "past 12 months" to "yesterday/today." We applied the algorithm to 1681 participants in Iowa and North Carolina. We examined correlations in endotoxin metrics within- and between-task. We also compared these metrics to prior day full-shift inhalable endotoxin concentrations from 32 farmers. RESULTS The highest median task-specific cumulative exposures were observed for swine confinement, poultry confinement, and grind feed. Inter-quartile ranges showed substantial between-subject variability for most tasks. Time window-specific metrics of the same task were moderately-highly correlated. Between-task correlation was variable, with moderately-high correlations observed for similar tasks (e.g., between animal-related tasks). Prior day endotoxin concentration increased with the total metric and with task metrics for swine confinement, clean other animal facilities, and clean grain bins. SIGNIFICANCE This study provides insight into the variability and sources of endotoxin exposure among farmers in the BEEA study and summarizes exposure estimates for future investigations in this population.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Melissa C. Friesen
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Laura E. Beane Freeman
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Sarah J. Locke
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Pabitra R. Josse
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Shuai Xie
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Jean-François Sauvé
- Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France (work was done while at Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Gabriella Andreotti
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Peter S. Thorne
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Jonathan N. Hofmann
- Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Over the past 40 years, the circumstances where fungal bioaerosols are major issues have shifted because of changes in the industrial sector from mainly agriculture to operations, including composting, cannabis production and forestry in hot humid conditions. Changes in the design and operation of nonindustrial workplaces meant that mould and dampness became major issues that are just being reduced. This review attempts to frame that history offers a perspective on the current thinking on mechanisms and provide potentially useful sources of information for physicians and their patients. RECENT FINDINGS The major impact of fungal exposures is not only from their allergens but also from an array of Danger-Associated Molecular Pattern molecules, possibly the most important of which is the type of glucan found in moulds that grow in damp buildings, wood chips and crops, that is beta 1, 3 D glucan in triple helical form. Located in lung epithelia, the dectin receptor is exquisitely sensitive to this compound. Except in some agricultural workplaces, low molecular weight secondary metabolites often mischaracterized as mycotoxins play little, if any, role on population health. SUMMARY There has been a convergence in thinking between the allergy and industrial hygiene communities as well as government agencies on mould and occupational health. This has led to some useful strategies for better managing these issues as well as increasing consumer awareness.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- J David Miller
- Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|