![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
Abstract
The authors measured the main ingredients of technical DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl [p,p[icaron]-DDT]) and its principal metabolite, 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis (p-chlorophenyl)ethylene [p,p[icaron]-DDE]) in serum collected from 52 pregnant women in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico in 1998. The median lipid-adjusted serum levels for the women were 676 ng/g p,p[icaron]-DDT (range: 56–23,169 ng/g) and 4,843 ng/g p,p[icaron]-DDE (range: 113–41, 964 ng/g). In regression analysis, serum DDT and DDE increased with age (test for trend, p = .022) but decreased with total lactation (test for trend, p < .001). Residence in a house that had ever been sprayed for malaria control was also related to serum DDT and DDE. This study provides evidence of high-level exposure to DDT and DDE among pregnant women living in Chiapas, Mexico, despite countrywide restrictions on its use at the time.
