ResearchObstetricsBlood mercury concentrations in pregnant and nonpregnant women in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2006
Section snippets
Data source
We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data obtained from 1999 through 2006. NHANES is a stratified, multistage probability sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the US conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NCHS Research Ethics Review Board approved the NHANES protocol. The consent form to participate in the survey as well to store specimens of their blood
Results
We analyzed data on 6770 women: 1183 pregnant and 5587 nonpregnant women from 1999 to 2006 who had completed interviews, examinations, and valid pregnancy data. Geometric mean BHg concentrations were significantly lower in pregnant women compared with nonpregnant women (0.71 and 0.92 μg/L, respectively; P < .0001). After adjustment for age and race/ethnicity, the difference in geometric mean BHg concentration between the groups was smaller, 0.81 and 0.93 μg/L, respectively, although still
Comment
We observed that geometric mean BHg concentrations were slightly, but statistically significantly, lower in pregnant women compared with nonpregnant women after adjusting for age and race/ethnicity. Given that the most significant driver of high BHg concentrations was seafood consumption for both pregnant and nonpregnant women, the lower concentrations of BHg in pregnant women may be due to fewer pregnant women consuming any seafood at all (a finding supported by this analysis), consuming fewer
Acknowledgments
The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC. H.R. was supported by an appointment to the Research Participation program for the CDC administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an agreement between the Department of Energy and CDC. H.R. and S.C.T. conducted the analysis. H.R., S.C.T., and K.C. developed the manuscript.
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The authors report no conflict of interest.
Cite this article as: Razzaghi H, Tinker SC, Crider K. Blood mercury concentrations in pregnant and nonpregnant women in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2006. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2014;210:357.e1-9.