Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions
I conducted a review of the published literature to assess the strength of the evidence for an association between prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) and subsequent child development. I identified 12 studies on this subject published since 1980. Of these, 3 were longitudinal studies—2 conduct...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:1367850 2023-05-15T16:10:41+02:00 Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions Spurgeon, Anne 2006-02 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1367850 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16451873 https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 en eng National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1367850 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16451873 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original DOI. Research Text 2006 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 2013-08-30T21:05:53Z I conducted a review of the published literature to assess the strength of the evidence for an association between prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) and subsequent child development. I identified 12 studies on this subject published since 1980. Of these, 3 were longitudinal studies—2 conducted in the Seychelle Islands, and 1 in the Faroe Islands. Nine were cross-sectional studies conducted in different countries where seafood, a source of MeHg, constituted a major part of the diet. The ages of the children studied ranged from 2 weeks to 12 years. The results of the longitudinal studies were contradictory. Researchers in the Faroe Islands identified an association between MeHg exposure and developmental effects, whereas those in the Seychelle Islands identified no such association. This inconsistency was mirrored in the results of the cross-sectional studies where there were some positive and some negative findings. It was concluded that it was not possible from currently available data to determine whether there is an association between prenatal MeHg exposure and adverse developmental effects in children. In advance of future research, consideration should be given to resolving the uncertainties surrounding exposure assessment and outcome measurement, as both elements varied between studies. It was suggested that questions of exposure assessment would benefit from the application of an expert review process. Outcome assessment would benefit from the development of theoretically based measures of specific aspects of cognitive functioning to replace the relatively crude measures of attainment and IQ currently employed in most studies. This would assist in the development of classic longitudinal studies by allowing repeated assessment over the full age range and providing data that are more readily interpretable and comparable between studies. Text Faroe Islands PubMed Central (PMC) Faroe Islands Environmental Health Perspectives 114 2 307 312 |
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I conducted a review of the published literature to assess the strength of the evidence for an association between prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) and subsequent child development. I identified 12 studies on this subject published since 1980. Of these, 3 were longitudinal studies—2 conducted in the Seychelle Islands, and 1 in the Faroe Islands. Nine were cross-sectional studies conducted in different countries where seafood, a source of MeHg, constituted a major part of the diet. The ages of the children studied ranged from 2 weeks to 12 years. The results of the longitudinal studies were contradictory. Researchers in the Faroe Islands identified an association between MeHg exposure and developmental effects, whereas those in the Seychelle Islands identified no such association. This inconsistency was mirrored in the results of the cross-sectional studies where there were some positive and some negative findings. It was concluded that it was not possible from currently available data to determine whether there is an association between prenatal MeHg exposure and adverse developmental effects in children. In advance of future research, consideration should be given to resolving the uncertainties surrounding exposure assessment and outcome measurement, as both elements varied between studies. It was suggested that questions of exposure assessment would benefit from the application of an expert review process. Outcome assessment would benefit from the development of theoretically based measures of specific aspects of cognitive functioning to replace the relatively crude measures of attainment and IQ currently employed in most studies. This would assist in the development of classic longitudinal studies by allowing repeated assessment over the full age range and providing data that are more readily interpretable and comparable between studies. |
format |
Text |
author |
Spurgeon, Anne |
author_facet |
Spurgeon, Anne |
author_sort |
Spurgeon, Anne |
title |
Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions |
title_short |
Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions |
title_full |
Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions |
title_fullStr |
Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prenatal Methylmercury Exposure and Developmental Outcomes: Review of the Evidence and Discussion of Future Directions |
title_sort |
prenatal methylmercury exposure and developmental outcomes: review of the evidence and discussion of future directions |
publisher |
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1367850 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16451873 https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 |
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Faroe Islands |
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Faroe Islands |
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Faroe Islands |
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Faroe Islands |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1367850 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16451873 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 |
op_rights |
This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original DOI. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7859 |
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Environmental Health Perspectives |
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114 |
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2 |
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307 |
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312 |
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1765995853088030720 |