Abstract
Measuring chronic pesticide exposure is important in order to investigate the associated health effects. Traditional biological samples (blood/urine) are difficult to collect, store and transport in large epidemiological studies in settings such as rural Asia. We assessed the acceptability of collecting hair samples from a rural Sri Lankan population and found that this method of data collection was feasible. We also assessed the level of non-specific metabolites (DAPS) of organophosphate pesticides in the hair samples. The median concentration (pg/mg) of each DAP was: diethyl phosphate: 83.3 (IQI 56.0, 209.4); diethyl thiophosphate: 34.7 (IQI 13.8, 147.9); diethyl dithiophosphate: 34.5 (IQI 23.4, 55.2); and dimethyl phosphate: 3 (IQI 3, 109.7). Total diethylphosphates were recovered in >80% of samples and were positively correlated with self-reported pesticide exposure.