Blood and hair mercury concentrations among Cree First Nations of Eeyou Istchee (Quebec, Canada): time trends, prenatal exposure and links to local fish consumption.

Blood and hair mercury concentrations among Cree First Nations of Eeyou Istchee (Quebec, Canada): time trends, prenatal exposure and links to local fish consumption. Int J Circumpolar Health. 2018 Dec;77(1):1474706 Authors: Ripley S, Robinson E, Johnson-Down L, Andermann A, Ayotte P, Lucas M, Nieboer E Abstract To describe exposure to methylmercury among Cree, focusing on women of childbearing age, we used data from 2 studies. Multiple regression was employed to examine associations between blood and hair mercury concentrations and consumption of locally harvested fish. Approximately 9.9% of non-pregnant women aged 15-44 y and 3.9% of pregnant women required follow-up according to Health Canada's blood mercury guidance value of 40 nmol/L. 8% of hair mercury observations in the non-pregnant women and 2.5% among pregnant women exceeded the equivalent threshold of 10 nmol/g. The geometric mean blood mercury concentration was 12.7 nmol/L in 1,429 persons aged 8 and over, and 17.7 nmol/L in adults aged 18 and older. The proportion of hair mercury concentrations greater than 12.5 nmol/g decreased in all age-sex groups when comparing the 2002-2009 data to published values for 1993-1994. Among women of childbearing age, local fish consumption was associated with increased blood and hair mercury concentrations. While over 90% of women of childbearing age in this population have acceptable levels of mercury, ongoing intake of mercury sugg...
Source: International Journal of Circumpolar Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Int J Circumpolar Health Source Type: research