title: Surveying mercury levels in hair, blood and urine of under 7-year old children from a coastal city in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The average mercury load in children under 7-years old was determined in a populated but not overly industrial coastal area in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  395 blood samples, 1072 urine samples, and 581 hair samples were collected from 1076 children, aged 0 to 6 years, from eight representative communities of Xiamen, China. Mercury levels in the samples were surveyed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The 95% upper limits of mercury in blood, urine, and hair for the children were 2.30, 1.50 and 2100.00 μg/kg, respectively. Levels tended to increase with age. Correlation analyses showed that mercury levels in blood and urine correlated with those in hair (n = 132), r = 0.49, p < 0.0001 and r = 0.20, p = 0.0008; however, blood mercury levels did not correlate with urine levels (n = 284), r = 0.07, p = 0.35.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surveying the average mercury load in children 0 to 6 years, and the 95% upper limit value of mercury in their blood, urine, and hair should help guide risk assessment and health management for children.
authors.affiliation: Xiamen Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Xiamen 361000, China. cgx5an@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Guixia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children's Environmental Health, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai 200092, China.
authors.forename: Chonghuai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Xiamen Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Xiamen 361000, China.
authors.forename: Xingdong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Xiamen Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Xiamen 361000, China.
authors.forename: Guozhang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008628:Mercury / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D008628:Mercury