title: Fish consumption during pregnancy, mercury transfer, and birth weight along the Madeira River Basin in Amazonia.
abstract: Birth weight can be a predictor of maternal health issues related to nutrition and environmental contaminants. Total hair mercury (HHg) concentration was studied as an indicator of both fish consumption and methylmercury exposure in mothers (and newborns) living in selected low income areas of the Madeira River basin, Amazonia, Brazil. This cohort study (n = 1,433) consisted of traditional riverines (n = 396), riverines who had moved to urban (n = 676) and rural (n = 67) settings, and tin miner settlers (n = 294). Median maternal HHg was significantly different (p = 0.00001) between riverine (12.1 µg·g-1), rural (7.82 µg·g-1), urban (5.4 µg·g-1), and tin miner (4.5 µg·g-1) groups studied. The same trend (of medians) was observed for newborns' HHg which also showed significant differences between riverine (3.0 µg·g-1), rural (2.0 µg·g-1), urban (1.5 µg·g-1), and tin miner (0.8 µg·g-1) groups. The correlation between maternal and newborn HHg was statistically significant in the riverine (r = 0.8952; p = 0.0001), urban (r = 0.6744; p = 0.0001), and rural (r = 0.8416; p = 0.0001) groups but not in the mother-infant pairs in the tin miner group (r = 0.0638; p = 0.2752). Birth weight was significantly different among groups but did not show a pattern consistent with that of fish consumption (and HHg). A multiple regression analysis showed that only family income and gestational age had a significant impact on birth weight.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal HHg is an important biomarker of maternal fish consumption and of methylmercury exposure during pregnancy. However, in these Amazonian groups, only maternal education and gestational age seemed to affect birth weight positively.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Campus Macaé, RJ, Brazil. rejanecmarques@globo.com
authors.forename: Rejane C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: José V E
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Bernardi
authors.forename: José G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Dórea
authors.forename: Katiane G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Brandão
authors.forename: Lucélia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bueno
authors.forename: Renata S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Malm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005399:Fishes; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005865:Gestational Age; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D008767:Methylmercury Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008767:Methylmercury Compounds