A comparison of individual-level vs. hypothetically pooled mercury biomonitoring data from the Maternal Organics Monitoring Study (MOMS), Alaska, 1999-2012.
Int J Circumpolar Health
; 79(1): 1726256, 2020 12.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32039659
Biomonitoring for heavy metals is important to assess health risks, especially in Arctic communities where rural residents rely on locally harvested foods. However, laboratory testing for blood contaminants is expensive and might not be sustainable for long-term monitoring. We assessed whether pooled specimen biomonitoring could be a part of a plan for blood contaminant surveillance among pregnant women in rural Alaska using existing blood mercury level data from three cross sectional studies of pregnant women. We applied a hypothetical pooled specimen template stratified into 8 demographic groups based on age, coastal or inland residence, and pre-pregnancy weight. The hypothetical geometric mean blood mercury levels were similar to the individual-level geometric means. However, the 95% confidence intervals were much wider for the hypothetical geometric means compared to the true geometric means. Although the variability that resulted from pooling specimens using a small sample made it difficult to compare demographic groups to each other, pooled specimen results could be an accurate reflection of the population burden of mercury contamination in the Arctic in the context of large numbers of biomonitoring samples.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Oligoelementos
/
Indígenas Norteamericanos
/
Contaminantes Ambientales
/
Mercurio
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Circumpolar Health
Asunto de la revista:
MEDICINA
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Estados Unidos