Abstract
Mercury is a cumulative neurotoxic agent, exposure to high levels of which may increase the risk of psychiatric symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between blood mercury and depression risk in Korean adults. We analyzed the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) with 11,754 participants (male: 5834 female: 5920) aged ≥19 years from 2008 to 2013. The associations of blood mercury with risk of depression were estimated using multivariate logistic regression after adjustment for potential confounders. We found a significantly increased risk of depression in the highest quintile for blood mercury (multivariate OR = 2.05; 95% CI = 1.20–3.48; p trend = 0.03) among female, but not male. A stratification analysis by fish intake showed that the association between depression and blood mercury was strengthened (OR = 4.00; 95% CI = 1.51–10.6; p trend = 0.015) among females with the lowest tertile of fish intake. The results of this study suggest that higher levels of blood mercury, especially in cases of lower fish intake, are positively associated with the risk of depression in Korean women.
Highlights
Mercury is a ubiquitous neurotoxin that exists in elemental, organic, and inorganic forms in nature [1,2]
The participants did not show any significant association between blood mercury and depression, despite the multivariate analysis
We analyzed the relationship between blood mercury levels by fish consumption and depressive symptoms using Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008–2013
Summary
Mercury is a ubiquitous neurotoxin that exists in elemental, organic, and inorganic forms in nature [1,2]. The mechanism involved in methylmercury toxicity are inhibition of protein synthesis, alteration of protein phosphorylation, and microtubule disruption, resulting in increased intracellular. Ca2+ concentration that leads to alteration of neurotransmitter function and neuronal death [3]. Humans incur the highest mercury levels from consumption of seafood because, while methylmercury is accumulated from plankton to humans at high absorption rates, mercury’s excretion rate from the human body is very low and its retention time is long [1,4]. In its effect on the nervous system, increases the risk of psychiatric symptoms [3]. An epidemic outbreak of methylmercury poisoning was first reported in 1956 among residents around Minimata Bay in Japan, the symptoms being severe behavioral dysfunction, deterioration of cognitive function, changes in mood levels, and paralysis, resulting, eventually, in some cases, in death [5].
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