Question: What is the FAME study?
Answer: “FAME is a case-control study of Parkinson's Disease (PD) nested in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS). The AHS, a cohort study of approximately 90,000 licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses who were recruited in 1993-97, is designed to study the association of cancer and other health outcomes with farm-related exposures.
The Farming & Movement Evaluation (FAME) Study examines the relationship between Parkinson's Disease and exposure to pesticides and other neurotoxicants. The study also examines the connection between the illness and lifestyle factors, skin melanin and polymorphisms in genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, dopaminergic neurotransmission or xenobiotic-specific membrane transport.
The specific aims of FAME are to examine the relationship of PD to: pesticide exposure, other neurotoxicants, particularly metals, lifestyle factors including diet, smoking, and caffeine, skin melanin, to examine racial/ethnic differences polymorphisms in genes involved in xenobiotic metabolism, dopaminergic neurotransmission, or xenobiotic-specific membrane transport.” (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/labs/epi/studies/fame/index.cfm; accessed December 2016)