研究顯示，在農場上工作的婦女因接觸某些常用的殺蟲劑，可能將導致過敏性的氣喘。
這項研究結果刊登在美國呼吸與重要醫藥期刊(American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine)2008年1月第一期當中，由美國胸腔協會出版。
研究者針對超過2萬5000名位於北卡羅萊納州與愛荷華州的農婦，對於可能引起成人氣喘的殺蟲劑與其他在工作時所接觸到的成分，進行評估的工作。
他們採用醫師關於成人氣喘的診斷報告，根據有濕疹與過敏性鼻炎病史，或只患有其中一種病症，將上述農婦分為兩組：過敏型氣喘與非過敏性氣喘。
研究發現，在所有受試農婦中，其無論使用或進行殺蟲劑的混和，罹患過敏性氣喘的農婦均增加超過5成之多。雖然在農村成長的婦女較常接觸到殺蟲劑，但與非成長於農村的婦女相較之下，罹患過敏性氣喘的風險卻較低。然而究竟是何種保護作用，仍有待釐清。
New research on farm women has shown that contact with some commonly used pesticides may increase their risk of allergic asthma.
The study was published in the first issue for January of the "American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine," published by the American Thoracic Society.
The researchers assessed pesticide and other occupational exposures as risk factors for adult-onset asthma in more than 25,000 farmwomen in North Carolina and Iowa.
They used self-reports of doctor-diagnosed adult asthma, and divided the women into groups of allergic or non-allergic asthma based on a history of eczema and/or hay fever.
They found an average increase of 50 percent in the prevalence of allergic asthma in all farm women who applied or mixed pesticides.
Although the association with pesticides was higher among women who grew up on farms, these women still had a lower overall risk of having allergic asthma compared to than those who did not grow up on farms, due to a protective effect that remains poorly understood.
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