Grandjean P, Weihe P, White R F, Debes F
Institute of Community Health, Odense University, Odense, 5000, Denmark.
Environ Res. 1998 May;77(2):165-72. doi: 10.1006/enrs.1997.3804.
Within a cohort of 1022 consecutive singleton births in the Faroe Islands, we assessed prenatal methylmercury exposure from the maternal hair mercury concentration. At approximately 7 years of age, 917 of the children underwent detailed neurobehavioral examination. Little risk is thought to occur as long as the hair mercury concentration in pregnant women is kept below 10-20 microg/g (50-100 nmol/l). A case group of 112 children whose mothers had a hair mercury concentration of 10-20 microg/g was therefore matched to children with exposure below 3 microg/g, using age, sex, time of examination, and the mother's score on Raven's Progressive Matrices as matching criteria. The two groups were almost identical with regard to other factors that might affect neurobehavioral performance in this community. On six neuropsychological test measures, the case group showed mild decrements, relative to controls, especially in the domains of motor function, language, and memory. Subtle effects on brain function therefore seem to be detectable at prenatal methylmercury exposure levels currently considered to be safe.
在法罗群岛1022例连续单胎出生的队列研究中，我们通过孕妇头发汞浓度评估产前甲基汞暴露情况。约7岁时，917名儿童接受了详细的神经行为检查。一般认为，只要孕妇头发汞浓度保持在10 - 20微克/克（50 - 100纳摩尔/升）以下，风险就很小。因此，以年龄、性别、检查时间以及母亲在瑞文标准推理测验中的得分作为匹配标准，将112名母亲头发汞浓度为10 - 20微克/克的儿童病例组与暴露水平低于3微克/克的儿童进行匹配。在可能影响该社区神经行为表现的其他因素方面，两组几乎相同。在六项神经心理学测试指标上，病例组相对于对照组表现出轻度下降，尤其是在运动功能、语言和记忆方面。因此，在目前认为安全的产前甲基汞暴露水平下，似乎可以检测到对脑功能的细微影响。
