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Epidemiological Evidence on Methylmercury Neurotoxicity

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Book cover Methylmercury and Neurotoxicity

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Neurotoxicity ((Current Topics Neurotoxicity,volume 2))

Abstract

Methylmercury neurotoxicity has been gradually recorded over several decades. Designs of recent epidemiologic studies have improved to focus their assessments in developmental neurotoxicity. The developing brain, due to rapid physiologic changes and a protective system under development, is particularly vulnerable to the exposure to environmental insults. This chapter aims to systematically review and discuss the state-of-the-art epidemiological studies published up to the present days. We also describe and discuss some of the methodological problems. For example, the uncertainties (confounding) derived from a situation in which an association between an exposure and an outcome is distorted because it is mixed with the effect of a confounding variable. A majority of the studies have demonstrated that methylmercury exposure is neurotoxic to adults and children, but stronger adverse effects would result if negative confounding derived from the nutritional factors of seafood is taken into consideration in the data analyses. The EU and US decision to take preventive measures occurred at a substantial delay following the discovery of these neurotoxic effects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the NIH, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (ES09797 and 013692). The contents of this chapter are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS, NIH, or any other funding agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 401 Park Drive, Landmark Center East, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Jordi Julvez PhD, Anna L. Choi ScD & Philippe Grandjean PhD, MD

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, 7008558, Japan

    Takashi Yorifuji MD, PhD

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  1. Jordi Julvez PhD
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  2. Takashi Yorifuji MD, PhD
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  3. Anna L. Choi ScD
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  4. Philippe Grandjean PhD, MD
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Correspondence to Philippe Grandjean PhD, MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, 171 77, Sweden

    Sandra Ceccatelli

  2. , Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Garland Avenue 2215-B, Nashville, 37232, Tennessee, USA

    Michael Aschner

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Julvez, J., Yorifuji, T., Choi, A.L., Grandjean, P. (2012). Epidemiological Evidence on Methylmercury Neurotoxicity. In: Ceccatelli, S., Aschner, M. (eds) Methylmercury and Neurotoxicity. Current Topics in Neurotoxicity, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2383-6_2

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