Department of Epidemiology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 700-8558, Japan.
Sci Total Environ. 2012 Feb 15;417-418:291-3. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.11.076. Epub 2012 Jan 24.
Recent studies suggest potential adverse effects of methylmercury exposure on myocardial infarction and hypertension, although the evidence is still limited. We thus evaluated this association using age-standardized mortality ratios (ASMRs) in Minamata, where severe methylmercury poisoning had occurred. We obtained mortality data from annual vital statistics and demographic statistics from census. We then compared mortality of atherosclerotic heart disease including degenerative heart disease and hypertension in Minamata-city with those in Kumamoto Prefecture, which includes Minamata city, as a control. We estimated ASMRs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) during the period from 1953 to 1970. ASMRs of atherosclerotic heart disease were continuously decreased during the period from 1953 to 1967. In contrast, the ASMR of hypertension was significantly elevated during the period from 1963 to 1967 (SMR=1.38, CI; 1.06-1.80); but they decreased later. Although dilution is present in this ecological study, our study supports the notion that methylmercury exposure induces hypertension.
最近的研究表明，甲基汞暴露可能对心肌梗死和高血压有不良影响，尽管证据仍然有限。因此，我们使用水俣发生过严重甲基汞中毒的水俣市的年龄标准化死亡率（ASMR）评估了这种关联。我们从年度生命统计数据和人口普查的人口统计数据中获取了死亡率数据。然后，我们将水俣市的动脉粥样硬化性心脏病（包括退行性心脏病和高血压）的死亡率与包括水俣市在内的熊本县进行了比较。我们在 1953 年至 1970 年期间估计了 ASMR 和 95%置信区间（CI）。1953 年至 1967 年期间，动脉粥样硬化性心脏病的 ASMR 持续下降。相比之下，1963 年至 1967 年期间高血压的 ASMR 显著升高（SMR=1.38，CI；1.06-1.80）；但后来又下降了。尽管这项生态研究存在稀释现象，但我们的研究支持了甲基汞暴露会导致高血压的观点。
