Genetic variability in pathways associates with pesticide-induced nervous system disease in the United States

Nervous system disease development following pesticide exposure can vary in a population, but genetic susceptibility to chemicals is poorly characterized. We developed a framework to build Chemical - SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) - Disease linkages via biological pathways. We integrated these linkages with spatialized pesticide application data for the United States from 1992 - 2018 and nervous system disease rates for 2018 to characterize genetic variability in pesticide-induced nervous system disease. We found that the number of SNPs implicated per pesticide in US states positively correlates with disease incidence and prevalence for Alzheimers disease, Parkinson disease, and multiple sclerosis. Further, only 2% of pesticide sets used together over time overlapped between high disease occurrence and low disease occurrence states, with more SNPs implicated in pathways in high disease occurrence states. This supports that pesticides contribute to nervous system disease, and we developed priority lists of SNPs, pesticides, and pathways for further study.