BACKGROUND: Children in agricultural areas are exposed to organophosphate (OP) and pyrethroid (PYR) insecticides. This explorative study investigated child exposure to OPs and PYRs, comparing temporal and spatial exposure variability within and among urine, wristbands, and dust samples. METHODS: During spraying season 2018, 38 South African children in two agricultural areas (Grabouw/Hex River Valley) and settings (farm/village) participated in a seven-day study. Child urine and household dust samples were collected on days 1 and 7. Children and their guardians were wearing silicone wristbands for seven days. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) evaluated temporal agreements between repeated urine and dust samples, Spearman rank correlations (Rs) evaluated the correlations among matrices, and linear mixed-effect models investigated spatial exposure predictors. A risk assessment was performed using reverse dosimetry. RESULTS: Eighteen OPs/PYRs were targeted in urine, wristbands, and dust. Levels of chlorpyrifos in dust (ICC = 0.92) and diethylphosphate biomarker in urine (ICC = 0.42) showed strong and moderate temporal agreement between day 1 and day 7, respectively. Weak agreements were observed for all others. There was mostly a weak correlation among the three matrices (Rs = -0.12 to 0.35), except for chlorpyrifos in dust and its biomarker 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol in urine (Rs = 0.44). No differences in exposure levels between living locations were observed. However, 21% of the urine biomarker levels exceeded the health-risk threshold for OP exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Observed high short-term variability in exposure levels during spraying season highlights the need for repeated sampling. The weak correlation between the exposure matrices points to different environmental and behavioral exposure pathways. Exceeding risk thresholds for OP should be further investigated.

Aix Marseille University CNRS LCE Marseille France

Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research School of Public Health University of Cape Town Cape Town South Africa

Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences Brno Czech Republic

Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht the Netherlands

Masaryk University Faculty of Science RECETOX Brno Czech Republic

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute Allschwil Switzerland

University of Basel Basel Switzerland

Wageningen Food Safety Research part of Wageningen University and Research Wageningen The Netherlands

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