Spatial association of land-use areas and disease occurred by pesticide poisoning in Thailand

Background: Thailand is one of the Asian countries where high pesticides use is common for agriculture. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the spatial association between types of land-use areas and diseases occurred by pesticide poisoning in Thailand. Methods: This study was conducted by using the data set of average prevalence of diseases occurred by pesticide pollution and the land-use areas between 2018-2020. A Moran’s I and local indicators of spatial association (LISA) were used to identify the spatial autocorrelation between each type of land use areas and diseases developed due to pesticide poisoning in Thailand. Results: This present study observed that the average prevalence of disease occurred from pesticide pollution between 2018-2020 was 13.17 (95% CI: 10.83 - 15.50) per 100,000 in Thailand. The results identified the spatial global autocorrelation of each type of land used and occurrence of diseases due to pesticide pollution, including rice field areas, field crops, fruit trees and perennials, vegetables and flowers, and other agriculture with Moran’s I 0.270, 0.144, 0.606, 0.135, and 0.324 respectively. A spatial association between various factors and average prevalence of pesticide pollutions with significant LISA analysis were; rice field areas with eight high-high clusters and nine low-low clusters, field crops areas with three high-high clusters and 11 low-low clusters, fruit trees and perennials areas with eight high-high clusters and 12 low-low clusters, and six high-high clusters and four low-low clusters vegetable and flower areas. Similarly, nine high-high clusters and nine low-low clusters of other agricultural areas had been observed with prevalence of diseases acquired by pesticide pollution. Conclusions: There was significant spatial association between land-use areas and diseases acquired by pesticide pollution in Thailand. It should be controlled by new policy recommendations for pesticides use for agriculture., especially, in provinces with more land-use areas for each type of plant.