Increased sister chromatid exchange in peripheral blood lymphocytes from humans exposed to pesticide: evidence based on a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) in human peripheral blood lymphocytes is one of the most extensively studied biomarkers employed to evaluate genetic damage subsequent to pesticide exposure. OBJECTIVE To estimate the pooled levels of SCE in human peripheral blood lymphocytes among population exposed to pesticide. MATERIALS AND METHODS Meta-analysis on the association between SCE frequency and pesticide exposure was performed with STATA 10.0 software package and Review Manager 5.0.24 in this study. RESULTS The overall means of SCE were 7.88 [95% confidence intervals (95%CI): 6.71-9.04] for exposure group and 6.05 (95%CI: 5.13-6.95) for controls, respectively. There was statistically significant difference in the SCE frequency in human peripheral blood lymphocytes between pesticide-exposed groups and control groups, and the summary estimate of weighted mean difference was 1.69 (95%CI: 1.01-2.38). We also observed that pesticide-exposed population had significantly higher SCE frequency than control groups among smokers, nonsmokers, pesticide applicator, pesticide producer, other exposure population and Asian population in stratified analyses. CONCLUSIONS Data indicate that the SCE frequency in human peripheral blood lymphocytes might be an indicator of early genetic effects for pesticide-exposed populations.