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Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015

Women are primarily exposed to mercury through the consumption of fish contaminated by gold mining activities. The main systems affected are the central nervous and renal systems, although effects on the reproductive system have also been found. Objective: To explore the relationship between mercury...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Diaz, Sonia Mireya, Palma, Ruth Marien, Muñoz, Maria Nathalia, Becerra-Arias, Carolina, Fernández Niño, Julián Alfredo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7143275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32168984
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061827
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author Diaz, Sonia Mireya
Palma, Ruth Marien
Muñoz, Maria Nathalia
Becerra-Arias, Carolina
Fernández Niño, Julián Alfredo
author_facet Diaz, Sonia Mireya
Palma, Ruth Marien
Muñoz, Maria Nathalia
Becerra-Arias, Carolina
Fernández Niño, Julián Alfredo
author_sort Diaz, Sonia Mireya
collection PubMed
description Women are primarily exposed to mercury through the consumption of fish contaminated by gold mining activities. The main systems affected are the central nervous and renal systems, although effects on the reproductive system have also been found. Objective: To explore the relationship between mercury levels in women and their possible sources of contamination. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2013 to 2015 with women residing in 11 municipalities in La Mojana, Colombia, using non-random sampling. Standardized instruments were used to identify sociodemographic characteristics, mercury use, mining-related activities, water and fish consumption, and other factors. Blood, urine, and hair samples were taken to quantify mercury levels. A logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with elevated mercury values in the participants’ samples. A total of 428 women were included, with an average age of 36.7 ± 16.7 years, 3.3% of whom were pregnant at the time of the survey and 8.4% of whom were exposed occupationally. High levels of mercury were present in 62.8% of the women, in any one of the three samples processed. Those exposed occupationally and environmentally had similar values (p = 0.821). Frequency of fish consumption and source of drinking water were associated with higher levels of mercury (p < 0.05).
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spelling pubmed-71432752020-04-14 Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015 Diaz, Sonia Mireya Palma, Ruth Marien Muñoz, Maria Nathalia Becerra-Arias, Carolina Fernández Niño, Julián Alfredo Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Women are primarily exposed to mercury through the consumption of fish contaminated by gold mining activities. The main systems affected are the central nervous and renal systems, although effects on the reproductive system have also been found. Objective: To explore the relationship between mercury levels in women and their possible sources of contamination. A cross-sectional study was conducted from 2013 to 2015 with women residing in 11 municipalities in La Mojana, Colombia, using non-random sampling. Standardized instruments were used to identify sociodemographic characteristics, mercury use, mining-related activities, water and fish consumption, and other factors. Blood, urine, and hair samples were taken to quantify mercury levels. A logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with elevated mercury values in the participants’ samples. A total of 428 women were included, with an average age of 36.7 ± 16.7 years, 3.3% of whom were pregnant at the time of the survey and 8.4% of whom were exposed occupationally. High levels of mercury were present in 62.8% of the women, in any one of the three samples processed. Those exposed occupationally and environmentally had similar values (p = 0.821). Frequency of fish consumption and source of drinking water were associated with higher levels of mercury (p < 0.05). MDPI 2020-03-11 2020-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7143275/ /pubmed/32168984 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061827 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Diaz, Sonia Mireya
Palma, Ruth Marien
Muñoz, Maria Nathalia
Becerra-Arias, Carolina
Fernández Niño, Julián Alfredo
Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title_full Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title_fullStr Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title_full_unstemmed Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title_short Factors Associated with High Mercury Levels in Women and Girls from The Mojana Region, Colombia, 2013–2015
title_sort factors associated with high mercury levels in women and girls from the mojana region, colombia, 2013–2015
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7143275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32168984
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17061827
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