Hair Mercury Levels in U.S. Children and Women of Childbearing Age: Reference Range Data from NHANES 1999–2000

McDowell, Margaret; Dillon, Charles; Osterloh, John; Bolger, P. Michael; Pellizzari, Edo D.; Fernando, Reshan; de, Ruben Montes; Schober, Susan E.; Sinks, Thomas; Jones, Robert L.; Mahaffey, Kathryn R.

doi:10.1289/ehp.7046

Cited by 313 publications

(209 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…Consistent with other studies in children (Batista et al 1996;Ip et al 2004;McDowell et al 2004;Pesch et al 2002) and adults (Airey 1983;Hightower and Moore 2003;McDowell et al 2004;Morrissette et al 2004), fish consumption was strongly associated with H-Hg such that children who ate fish weekly or more often were over eight times as likely to have high (≥1 μg/g) levels of H-Hg than children who ate fish less than twice a month.…”

Section: Discussion Hair Hgsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The mean values for H-Hg over the five years of the NECAT study (0.3-0.4 μg/g hair) were higher than the mean of 0.22 μg/g seen in younger children (ages 1-5) in the 1999-2000 NHANES (McDowell et al 2004). This is likely due to the higher levels of fish consumption in the NECAT children, relative to the national sample of NHANES.…”

Section: Discussion Hair Hgmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…This is likely due to the higher levels of fish consumption in the NECAT children, relative to the national sample of NHANES. For example, only 25% of the children in the NHANES sample reported consuming fish 3 or more times in the past 30 days (the highest consumption category) (McDowell et al 2004), while nearly 40% of the NECAT children reported consuming fish at least once a week or more often.…”

Section: Discussion Hair Hgmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While US population values for hair mercury in children 1-5 years were recently reported (McDowell et al 2004), we are unaware of any North American data reporting mercury levels in either hair (organic) or urine (inorganic) in older children, save for certain special populations known to be at high risk of exposure (Dumont et al 1998). Nor have we found results from repeated sampling in the same children over extended periods, permitting possible longitudinal trends by age to be examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Scalp hair and urine mercury content of children in the Northeast United States: The New England Children's Amalgam Trial

Dunn

Trachtenberg

Barregård

et al. 2008

Environmental Research

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Children may be at particular risk from toxic effects of mercury (Hg). Previous studies of hair (organic) and urine (inorganic) Hg levels in US children were unable to assess Hg levels while accounting for exposure to amalgam dental restorations. This analysis describes, over a 5-year period, levels and correlates/predictors of scalp hair (H-Hg) and urinary (U-Hg) mercury in 534 New England Children's Amalgam Trial (NECAT) participants, aged 6-10 years and without exposure to dental amalgam at baseline. Results: Mean H-Hg levels were between 0.3 and 0.4 μg/g over 5 years. 17-29% of children had H-Hg levels ≥0.5μg/g, and 5.0 to 8.5% of children had levels ≥1μg/g, in any given study year. In adjusted models, fish consumption frequency was the most robust predictor of high H-Hg. U-Hg mean levels were between 0.7 to 0.9 μg/g creatinine over two years. The percentage of those with U-Hg≥2.3μg/g creatinine ranged from 4 to 6%. Number of amalgam restorations had a significant dose-response relationship with U-Hg level. Daily gum chewing in the presence of amalgam was associated with high U-Hg.

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Section: Discussion Hair Hgsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussion Hair Hgmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Discussion Hair Hgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Scalp hair and urine mercury content of children in the Northeast United States: The New England Children's Amalgam Trial

Dunn

Trachtenberg

Barregård

et al. 2008

Environmental Research

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“…In mothers, the 90th percentile (P90) was half that of the population reference values of the Flemish 2007-2008 biomonitoring study (Milieu Gezondheid 2010), and the US NHANES 1999-2000 study (McDowell et al 2004), as shown in Table 3. Although these studies showed an increase in mercury in hair with age, the mean level of mercury measured in the mothers' hair was lower than the level measured in the children's hair; other studies have also reported no association with mercury levels in hair and age (Cordier et al 1998;Li et al 2008;Wranova et al 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Exley

Aerts

Biot

et al. 2015

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Exposure to a number of environmental chemicals in UK mothers and children has been assessed as part of the European biomonitoring pilot study, Demonstration of a Study to Coordinate and Perform Human Biomonitoring on a European Scale (DEMOCOPHES). For the Europeanfunded project, 17 countries tested the biomonitoring guidelines and protocols developed by COPHES. The results from the pilot study in the UK are presented; 21 school children aged 6-11 years old and their mothers provided hair samples to measure mercury and urine samples, to measure cadmium, cotinine and several phthalate metabolites: mono(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl)phthalate (5OH-MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxoh e x y l ) p h t h a l a t e ( 5 o x o -M E H P ) a n d m o n o ( 2 -ethylhexyl)phthalate (MEHP), mono-ethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-iso-butyl phthalate (MiBP), mono-benzyl phthalate (MBzP) and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP). Questionnaire data was collected on environment, health and lifestyle. Mercury in hair was higher in children who reported frequent consumption of fish (geometric mean 0.35 μg/g) compared to those that ate fish less frequently (0.13 μg/g, p=0.002).Cadmium accumulates with age as demonstrated by higher levels of urinary cadmium in the mothers (geometric mean 0.24 μg/L) than in the children(0.14 μg/L). None of the mothers reported being regular smokers, and this was evident with extremely low levels of cotinine measured (maximum value 3.6 μg/L in mothers, 2.4 μg/L in children). Very low levels of the phthalate metabolites were also measured in both mothers and children (geometric means in mothers: 5OH-Responsible editor:

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Prenatal Exposure to Mercury and Fish Consumption During Pregnancy and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder–Related Behavior in Children

Sagiv¹,

Thurston²,

Bellinger³

et al. 2012

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med

161

105

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Hair Mercury Levels in U.S. Children and Women of Childbearing Age: Reference Range Data from NHANES 1999–2000

Abstract: Exposure to methyl mercury, a risk factor for neurodevelopmental toxicity, was assessed in U.S. Hair mercury levels were associated with age and fish consumption frequency.

Cited by 313 publications

References 34 publications

Scalp hair and urine mercury content of children in the Northeast United States: The New England Children's Amalgam Trial

Scalp hair and urine mercury content of children in the Northeast United States: The New England Children's Amalgam Trial

Pilot study testing a European human biomonitoring framework for biomarkers of chemical exposure in children and their mothers: experiences in the UK

Prenatal Exposure to Mercury and Fish Consumption During Pregnancy and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder–Related Behavior in Children

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