Cooperation of public health institutes and hospitals in Croatia in the implementation of a human biomonitoring survey on exposure to mercury

Autor: Janev Holcer, Nataša, Jeličić, Pavle, Capak, Krunoslav, Jurasović, Jasna, Djaković, Ivka, Sumpor, Tea, Štimac, Blaženka, Finderle, Aleks, Matak, Luka, Medić, Alan, Pletikosa, Magda, Nonković, Dijana, Žižić, Ana, Rališ, Renata, Klemenčić, Marko, Gruica Tonći
Přispěvatelé: Durgo, Ksenija
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Popis: Mercury as a highly toxic heavy metal can cause adverse health effects in humans. Fish consumption represents the primary human exposure route. The aim of this survey was to determine Hg exposure in women of generative age and their newborn babies by determining a possible link between fish consumption and concentrations of mercury in women’s hair and urine samples and babies’ cord blood, posing as the indicators of mercury body burden. Through the network of public health institutes and with cooperation of staff at maternity wards in hospitals, samples were collected from September 2015 to February 2016. Data on dietary and living habits and frequency of fish consumption were collected. The research sample consisted of 302 women aged 19 to 43 with their newborn babies. The survey was conducted in 14 selected maternity wards in two regions in Croatia: coastal and continental region. The measured levels of total Hg in hair samples in the coastal region ranged from 0.01249-5.8258 µg g-1 and 0.00577-1.569 µg g-1 in the continental region. The concentrations of Hg in the cord blood ranged from 0.01-18.83 µg L-1 in the coastal region and 0.04-12.29 µg L-1 in the continental region. The concentrations of Hg in urine adjusted to creatinine ranged from 0.06 to 4.05 µg g-1 in the coastal region and 0.01- 4.17 µg g-1 in the continental region. Results suggest that women in the coastal region have higher Hg concentrations in hair and cord blood than women from the continental region. The conducted survey is an excellent example of cooperation of all included institutions in Croatia ; the Croatian Institute of Public Health, county institutes of public health, and hospitals.
Databáze: OpenAIRE