Results: Only nine studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria out of 3281 hits generated. Five of the studies are of high quality while four are of moderate quality. For the three studies on neurodevelopment, evidence suggestive of negative impact of DDT was found. For the three studies on endocrine/congenital disorders, ambivalent evidence existed. In the case of the immunity-related outcome, there was growing but insufficient evidence of negative effect. The only study on survival outcome was inconclusive.
Conclusions: Empirically, insufficient evidence exists with regard to the chronic adverse effects of long-term exposure of children to DDT through IRS. Considering the dearth of studies and the fact that many adverse effects might take much longer time to manifest, inferences drawn are weak. It would therefore require a series of well-coordinated observational studies done in the context of IRS ( indoor residual spraying ) to adequately address this evidence gap in the future.
