the association between blood pressure and whole blood methylmercury in a cross-sectional study among inuit in greenland血压之间的关系和全血中甲基汞的横断面研究在格陵兰岛的因纽特人.pdfVIP

Nielsen et al. Environmental Health 2012, 11:44 /content/11/1/44 RESEARCH Open Access The association between blood pressure and whole blood methylmercury in a cross-sectional study among Inuit in Greenland Anni Brit Sternhagen Nielsen1,2*, Michael Davidsen3 and Peter Bjerregaard1,4 Abstract Background: The Inuit in Greenland have a high average consumption of marine species and are highly exposed to methylmercury, which in other studies has been related to hypertension. Data on the relation between methylmercury and hypertension is limited, especially in populations subjected to a high exposure of methylmercury. We examined the relation between whole blood mercury and blood pressure (BP) in Inuit in Greenland. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based study among adult Inuit in Greenland was performed in 2005–2009. Information on socio-demography, lifestyle, BP, blood samples and clinical measurements was obtained – the latter after overnight fasting. BP was measured according to standardized guidelines. Whole blood mercury concentration was used as a marker of exposure. The analyses were restricted to Inuit aged 30–69 years with four Greenlandic grandparents (N = 1,861). Multivariate regression analyses with inclusion of confounders were done separately for men and women with the omission of participants receiving anti-hypertensive drugs, except for logistic regression analyses of the relation between mercury and presence of hypertension (yes/no). Results: The mean whole blood mercury level was 20.5 μg/L among men and 14.7 μg/L among women. In multivariate analyses adjusted for confounders, diastolic BP decreased with increasing mercury concentration. In men diastolic BP decreased significantly for each four-fold increase in mercury concentration (Beta = −0.04, standard error = 0.01, p = 0.00