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 mostextensively 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 topesticide. Materials and
Methods: Meta-analysis on the association between SCE frequency and pesticide exposurewas performed with STATA 10.0 software package and Review Manager 5.0.24 in this study.
Results: The overallmeans 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 humanperipheral blood lymphocytes between pesticide-exposed groups and control groups, and the summary estimateof weighted mean difference was 1.69 (95%CI: 1.01-2.38). We also observed that pesticide-exposed populationhad significantly higher SCE frequency than control groups among smokers, nonsmokers, pesticide applicator,pesticide producer, other exposure population and Asian population in stratified analyses.
Conclusions: Dataindicate that the SCE frequency in human peripheral blood lymphocytes might be an indicator of early geneticesffects for pesticide-exposed populations.