Pesticides and parkinson's disease: causal relationship at the population and individual level?

Abstract

Pesticide exposure has been associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). As a result, PD has been recognized as an occupational disease among agricultural workers in France for over a decade. In March 2024, a similar recommendation for recognition was issued in Germany. Pesticides encompass a wide range of functional classes and chemical groups, making it challenging-evaluate their specific effects. Numerous epidemiological studies, including cohort and case-control studies, have investigated the association between pesticide exposure and PD risk. While some report statistically significant associations, others yield inconclusive results, partly due-the inherent difficulties in accurately quantifying pesticide exposure and overlap in the use of different pesticides. In addition, a large body of experimental research has examined the neurotoxicity of various pesticides on dopaminergic neurons using both in vitro and in vivo models of PD. This review summarizes the findings from epidemiological and experimental studies and discusses the current evidence linking pesticide exposure-risk for Parkinson's disease.