Abstract
to verify mercury exposure prevalence and identify its possible associated factors in two riverside communities in the Madeira River basin of the Western Brazilian Amazon. a cross-sectional study comprising 95 children and adolescents. Age cycle, school attendance, Bolsa Família, number of siblings, meals, fish consumption, height by age were measured. Binary logistic regression was used to verify relationships between mercury exposure and its possible associated factors. the general prevalence of mercury exposure was 46.3%; children, 35.4%; and adolescents, 57.4%. Associated factors were fish consumption (aOR=1.84; 95%CI 1.56-2.16), age cycle (aOR=2.50; 95%CI 1.09-5.7), parasites (aOR=1.22; 95%CI 1.02-2.71), and short stature (aOR=1.32; 95%CI 1.05-2.02). mercury exposure prevalence in riverside children and adolescents was considered worrying, with association with fish consumption, adolescence, parasites, and short stature.
Highlights
OBJECTIVEMercury (Hg) in the Amazon region has been recognized since the 1980s, when gold mining had its activities intensified[1,2]
All variables that had the highest prevalence (%) of exposure to contact with mercury were adolescents (57.4%); from the Puruzinho community (46.9%); who attended school (46.7%); benefited from Bolsa Família (46.1%); with less than or equal to two siblings (52.4%); consume equal or more than three meals a day (56.7%); fish consumption more than twice a week (47.0 %); with parasites (50.0%); risk for short stature (53.7%); and risk for underweight (50.0%) (Table 1)
This study describes the possible factors associated with mercury exposure in children and adolescents in riverside communities in the Brazilian Amazon region
Summary
OBJECTIVEMercury (Hg) in the Amazon region has been recognized since the 1980s, when gold mining had its activities intensified[1,2]. Upon entering the waters of the great Amazonian rivers, its chemical form is changed from inorganic to organic, Hg to MeHg (methylmercury)(5). This process is called methylation and occurs gradually promoted by photochemical action and, mainly, by the action of anaerobic microorganisms[6]. Due to its lipophilic characteristics, MeHg tends to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the muscle tissue of fish along the food chain[3]. This makes eating fish the primary means of human contamination for the most toxic chemical form of mercury. Its toxicology with main characteristic in damages to the central nervous system has been well reported in the international scientific literature
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