title: Assessment of reference values for mercury in urine: the results of an Italian polycentric study.
abstract: The results of a polycentric study to assess the reference values of urinary mercury (U-Hg) in four Italian cities are presented. A total of 383 subjects were selected on the basis of standardised criteria by a questionnaire on personal habits, lifestyle, occupational or non-occupational exposure to Hg, medical history, number and area of dental amalgams. U-Hg was determined by hydride generation atomic absorption method (HG-AAS), with a detection limit of 0.5 microg/l and by flow injection (FI) inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), with a detection limit of 0.03 microg/l. The median value of U-Hg, determined by HG-AAS, was 0.78 microg/g creatinine (0.75 for males and 0.83 for females), with 5 degrees and 95 degrees percentiles, respectively, of 0.17 and 3.66 microg/g creatinine. When determined by FI ICP-MS, the median value was 0.79 microg/g creatinine (0.77 for males and 0.79 for females) with 5 degrees and 95 degrees percentiles of, respectively, 0.12 and 5.02 microg/g creatinine. Among the independent variables, city of origin, area of dental amalgams, fish intake and tobacco smoking significantly influenced the U-Hg levels. The U-Hg reference values from this survey are lower than those from other recent investigations, probably due to characteristics and selection of the examined individuals and to the strict control of pre-analytical and analytical factors of variability.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene, University of Brescia, Italy. apostoli@master.cci.unibs.it
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Apostoli
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cortesi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mangili
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Elia
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Drago
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Soleo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Valente
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Sciarra
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aprea
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ronchi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Minoia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003723:Dental Amalgam / Q000737:chemistry; D004032:Diet; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008628:Mercury / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D003723:Dental Amalgam; D008628:Mercury