title: Blood and hair manganese concentrations in pregnant women from the infants' environmental health study (ISA) in Costa Rica.
abstract: Manganese (Mn), an essential nutrient, is a neurotoxicant at high concentrations. We measured Mn concentrations in repeated blood and hair samples collected from 449 pregnant women living near banana plantations with extensive aerial spraying of Mn-containing fungicide mancozeb in Costa Rica, and examined environmental and lifestyle factors associated with these biomarkers. Mean blood Mn and geometric mean hair Mn concentrations were 24.4 μg/L (8.9-56.3) and 1.8 μg/g (0.05-53.3), respectively. Blood Mn concentrations were positively associated with gestational age at sampling (β = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.2), number of household members (β = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.6), and living in a house made of permeable and difficult-to-clean materials (β = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.3 to 4.0); and inversely related to smoking (β = -3.1; 95% CI: -5.8 to -0.3). Hair Mn concentrations were inversely associated with gestational age at sampling (% change = 0.8; 95% CI: -1.6 to 0.0); and positively associated with living within 50 m of a plantation (% change = 42.1; 95% CI: 14.2 to 76.9) and Mn concentrations in drinking water (% change = 17.5; 95% CI: 12.2 to 22.8). Our findings suggest that pregnant women living near banana plantations aerially sprayed with mancozeb may be environmentally exposed to Mn.
authors.affiliation: Central American Institute for Studies on Toxic Substances (IRET), Universidad Nacional , P.O. Box 86-3000 Heredia, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: Berna
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van Wendel de Joode
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mergler
authors.forename: Leonel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Córdoba
authors.forename: Camilo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cano
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quesada
authors.forename: Donald R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Menezes-Filho
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lundh
authors.forename: Christian H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Lindh
authors.forename: Asa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bradman
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eskenazi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods; D003364:Costa Rica; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005659:Fungicides, Industrial; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008344:Maneb / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D008345:Manganese / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult; D015038:Zineb / Q000493:pharmacokinetics
chemical_list: D005659:Fungicides, Industrial; D008344:Maneb; D008345:Manganese; C013099:mancozeb; D015038:Zineb