Rodríguez-Villamizar Laura Andrea, Jaimes Diana Carolina, Manquián-Tejos Adelaida, Sánchez Luz Helena
Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Salud, Escuela de Medicina, Universidad Industrial de Santander.
Facultad de Química Ambiental, Universidad Santo Tomás, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
Biomedica. 2015 Aug;35 Spec:38-45. doi: 10.1590/S0120-41572015000500005.
Artisanal mining commonly extracts gold with an amalgamation process that uses mercury. The reproductive effects from exposure to elemental mercury used in gold mining have not been sufficiently studied.
To evaluate the effect of the exposure to elemental mercury used in gold mining on menstrual cycle regularity and the occurrence of miscarriages in Colombia.
An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted. The participants were female residents of gold mining districts, with a history of exposure to elemental mercury. Menstrual regularity and the occurrence of miscarriages were compared between these women and an unexposed group. Exposure and outcome variables were registered based on a questionnaire which was evaluated for its test-retest reproducibility. Prevalence rates were calculated using a binomial model and goodness-of-fit was evaluated.
A total of 72 women exposed to mercury and 121 unexposed women participated. The average time of exposure to mercury among exposed women was 19.58 ± 9.53 years. The adjusted prevalence of irregular menstruation over the last six months was higher in the group of women chronically exposed to mercury vapors (PR=1.59, 95% CI 0.93-2.73), while there was no difference in the proportion of women with a history of miscarriages.
Exposure to elemental mercury used in artisanal gold mining may be associated with a higher prevalence of irregular menstrual cycles but not with the occurrence of miscarriage.
手工采金通常采用汞齐化工艺提取黄金，其中会使用汞。金矿开采中使用的元素汞对生殖的影响尚未得到充分研究。
评估金矿开采中使用的元素汞暴露对哥伦比亚女性月经周期规律性和流产发生率的影响。
开展了一项分析性横断面研究。研究对象为金矿开采区有元素汞暴露史的女性居民。将这些女性与未暴露组女性在月经规律性和流产发生率方面进行比较。根据一份调查问卷记录暴露和结果变量，并对该问卷进行重测信度评估。使用二项式模型计算患病率，并评估拟合优度。
共有72名汞暴露女性和121名未暴露女性参与研究。暴露组女性的平均汞暴露时间为19.58±9.53年。长期暴露于汞蒸气的女性组在过去六个月月经不规律的校正患病率较高（PR=1.59，95%CI 0.93-2.73），而有流产史的女性比例没有差异。
手工金矿开采中使用的元素汞暴露可能与月经周期不规律的较高患病率相关，但与流产发生率无关。
