Mercury exposure in an urban pediatric population.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of elevated urinary mercury (Hg), as a marker of exposure, in a population of children drawn from an inner-city community with documented access to elemental mercury.


METHODS
A prospective consecutive patient series was conducted from November 1998 to January 1999 at an inner-city clinic in New York. Anonymous urine specimens from subjects (aged 1-18 years) were collected in mercury-free containers, split, acidified with 1:100 hydrochloric acid, and frozen. Cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrofluorometric assays were conducted simultaneously at laboratories at the University of Washington and the New York City Department of Health.


RESULTS
We enrolled 100 children (mean age 9.4 years; 62% male; 55% Hispanic; and 43% African American). Assay results from both laboratories were strongly correlated (r = 0.8, P <.0001). Mean urinary Hg was 1.08 +/- 1.82 microg/L. The 95th percentile for urinary Hg was 2.8 microg/L (range 0.2 to 11.7 microg/L). Five subjects had Hg levels above 5 microg/L.


CONCLUSIONS
We found that 5% of subjects had unsuspected elevated urinary Hg levels. This finding, in a group of inner-city minority children, strongly supports the need for further investigation of the sources of mercury exposure in this population.
Ozuah
Philip O
PO
Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Children's Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY 10467, USA. pozuah@pol.net
Lesser
Michael S
MS
Woods
James S
JS
Choi
Hyunok
H
Markowitz
Morri
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000652:urine*; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D008628:Mercury