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Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Weinhouse, C; Ortiz, EJ; Berky, AJ; Bullins, P; Hare-Grogg, J; Rogers, L; Morales, A-M; Hsu-Kim, H; Pan, WK
Published in: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
December 2017

Anemia has been widely studied in global health contexts because of severe nutritional deficiency, and more recently, inflammatory status, but chemical exposures are rarely considered. Until recently, "anemia" was used synonymously with "iron deficiency anemia (IDA)" in global health settings. However, only 50% of anemia cases worldwide are IDA. Environmental toxicology studies of anemia risk have generally focused on populations in developed countries, albeit with high exposure to environmental toxicants, such as lead or cadmium. In the developing world, toxicant exposures commonly coexist with other risk factors for anemia. In particular, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities are at risk for dietary methylmercury exposure through contaminated fish consumption, and for anemia due to food insecurity and infectious and chronic diseases. Here, we report analysis of total hair mercury content, hemoglobin, and serum micronutrient levels in children < 12 years of age (N = 83) near ASGM in the Peruvian Amazon. Forty-nine percent (N = 29/59) of those aged < 5 years were anemic (< 11 g/dL) and 52% (N = 12/23) of those aged 5-11 years (< 11.5 g/dL). Few children were stunted, wasted, or micronutrient deficient. Median total hair mercury was 1.18 μg/g (range: 0.06-9.70 μg/g). We found an inverse association between total mercury and hemoglobin (β = -0.12 g/dL, P = 0.06) that persisted (β = -0.14 g/dL, P = 0.04) after adjusting for age, sex, anthropometrics, and vitamin B12 in multivariate regression. This study provides preliminary evidence that methylmercury exposure is associated with anemia, which is especially relevant to children living near ASGM.

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Published In

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene

DOI

EISSN

1476-1645

ISSN

0002-9637

Publication Date

December 2017

Volume

97

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1886 / 1897

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Medicine
  • Seafood
  • Risk Factors
  • Peru
  • Nutritional Status
  • Mining
  • Micronutrients
  • Methylmercury Compounds
  • Male
  • Humans
 

Citation

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Weinhouse, C., Ortiz, E. J., Berky, A. J., Bullins, P., Hare-Grogg, J., Rogers, L., … Pan, W. K. (2017). Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 97(6), 1886–1897. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0269
Weinhouse, Caren, Ernesto J. Ortiz, Axel J. Berky, Paige Bullins, John Hare-Grogg, Laura Rogers, Ana-Maria Morales, Heileen Hsu-Kim, and William K. Pan. “Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon.The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 97, no. 6 (December 2017): 1886–97. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0269.
Weinhouse C, Ortiz EJ, Berky AJ, Bullins P, Hare-Grogg J, Rogers L, et al. Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2017 Dec;97(6):1886–97.
Weinhouse, Caren, et al. “Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon.The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, vol. 97, no. 6, Dec. 2017, pp. 1886–97. Epmc, doi:10.4269/ajtmh.17-0269.
Weinhouse C, Ortiz EJ, Berky AJ, Bullins P, Hare-Grogg J, Rogers L, Morales A-M, Hsu-Kim H, Pan WK. Hair Mercury Level is Associated with Anemia and Micronutrient Status in Children Living Near Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Peruvian Amazon. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 2017 Dec;97(6):1886–1897.

Published In

The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene

DOI

EISSN

1476-1645

ISSN

0002-9637

Publication Date

December 2017

Volume

97

Issue

6

Start / End Page

1886 / 1897

Related Subject Headings

  • Tropical Medicine
  • Seafood
  • Risk Factors
  • Peru
  • Nutritional Status
  • Mining
  • Micronutrients
  • Methylmercury Compounds
  • Male
  • Humans