Ha T Nguyen1, Sara A Quandt, Phillip Summers, Timothy M Morgan, Haiying Chen, Francis O Walker, Timothy D Howard, Leonardo Galván, Thomas A Arcury. 1. From the Department of Family and Community Medicine (Dr Nguyen, Mr Summers, and Dr Arcury) and Department of Neurology (Dr Walker); Department of Epidemiology and Prevention (Dr Quandt) and Department of Biostatistical Sciences (Drs Morgan and Chen), Division of Public Health Sciences; Department of Pediatrics (Dr Howard), Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine Research, Center for Worker Health, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem; and North Carolina Farmworkers Project (Mr Galván), Benson.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Farmworkers experience significant work-related health risks including pesticide-associated cognitive impairment. Practice effect is a surrogate for learning ability. This study examined differences in cognitive function and learning capacity in Latino farmworkers and nonfarmworkers. METHODS: Tasks of learning and short-term memory, executive function and working memory, perceptual coding, and psychomotor function were assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up in 136 farmworkers and 116 nonfarmworkers. RESULTS: Farmworkers had better performance on visuospatial learning and short-term memory at baseline (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, nonfarmworkers showed more practice effects, or improvement on cognitive performance, at 3-month follow-up relative to farmworkers. Furthermore, the amount of improvement on visuospatial learning ability, short-term visuospatial memory, and perceptual coding ability was significantly higher in nonfarmworkers than in farmworkers. CONCLUSIONS: Practice effects may serve as an additional cognitive readout to differentiate healthy individuals from those with cognitive impairment.
OBJECTIVE: Farmworkers experience significant work-related health risks including pesticide-associated cognitive impairment. Practice effect is a surrogate for learning ability. This study examined differences in cognitive function and learning capacity in Latino farmworkers and nonfarmworkers. METHODS: Tasks of learning and short-term memory, executive function and working memory, perceptual coding, and psychomotor function were assessed at baseline and 3-month follow-up in 136 farmworkers and 116 nonfarmworkers. RESULTS: Farmworkers had better performance on visuospatial learning and short-term memory at baseline (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, nonfarmworkers showed more practice effects, or improvement on cognitive performance, at 3-month follow-up relative to farmworkers. Furthermore, the amount of improvement on visuospatial learning ability, short-term visuospatial memory, and perceptual coding ability was significantly higher in nonfarmworkers than in farmworkers. CONCLUSIONS: Practice effects may serve as an additional cognitive readout to differentiate healthy individuals from those with cognitive impairment.
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