OBJECTIVES: Current risk assessment of elemental mercury vapor is based on the tremor toxicity. To clarify the neuromotor effects of occupational exposure to mercury vapor, hand tremor and postural sway were measured in 27 miners and smelters (i.e., exposed workers) and 52 unexposed subjects. METHODS: Urine samples were collected and total mercury and creatinine concentrations were determined. Data of the tremor and postural sway were analyzed using the fast Fourier transformation. RESULTS: The geometric means of the urinary mercury level (UHg) were 228 (range 22.6-4,577) microg/g creatinine for the exposed workers and 2.6 (1.0-17.4) microg/g creatinine for the unexposed subjects. Total tremor intensity and frequency-specific tremor intensities at 1-6 and 10-14 Hz were significantly larger in the exposed workers than in the unexposed subjects (P < 0.05), but they were not significantly related to the UHg among the exposed workers (P > 0.05). In contrast, there were no significant differences in any postural sway parameters between the above two groups (P > 0.05), but the transversal sway with eyes open was positively related to the UHg among the exposed workers in using multiple regression analysis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that postural sway, as well as hand tremor, may be affected by elemental mercury vapor exposure, but the former test seems to be less sensitive to mercury than the latter one.
OBJECTIVES: Current risk assessment of elemental mercury vapor is based on the tremor toxicity. To clarify the neuromotor effects of occupational exposure to mercury vapor, hand tremor and postural sway were measured in 27 miners and smelters (i.e., exposed workers) and 52 unexposed subjects. METHODS: Urine samples were collected and total mercury and creatinine concentrations were determined. Data of the tremor and postural sway were analyzed using the fast Fourier transformation. RESULTS: The geometric means of the urinary mercury level (UHg) were 228 (range 22.6-4,577) microg/g creatinine for the exposed workers and 2.6 (1.0-17.4) microg/g creatinine for the unexposed subjects. Total tremor intensity and frequency-specific tremor intensities at 1-6 and 10-14 Hz were significantly larger in the exposed workers than in the unexposed subjects (P < 0.05), but they were not significantly related to the UHg among the exposed workers (P > 0.05). In contrast, there were no significant differences in any postural sway parameters between the above two groups (P > 0.05), but the transversal sway with eyes open was positively related to the UHg among the exposed workers in using multiple regression analysis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that postural sway, as well as hand tremor, may be affected by elemental mercury vapor exposure, but the former test seems to be less sensitive to mercury than the latter one.
Authors: H Frumkin; R Letz; P L Williams; F Gerr; M Pierce; A Sanders; L Elon; C C Manning; J S Woods; V S Hertzberg; P Mueller; B B Taylor Journal: Am J Ind Med Date: 2001-01 Impact factor: 2.214
Authors: J W Albers; L R Kallenbach; L J Fine; G D Langolf; R A Wolfe; P D Donofrio; A G Alessi; K A Stolp-Smith; M B Bromberg Journal: Ann Neurol Date: 1988-11 Impact factor: 10.422
Authors: H Biernat; S A Ellias; L Wermuth; D Cleary; E C de Oliveira Santos; P J Jørgensen; R G Feldman; P Grandjean Journal: Neurotoxicology Date: 1999-12 Impact factor: 4.294
Authors: H Roels; R Lauwerys; J P Buchet; A Bernard; A Barthels; M Oversteyns; J Gaussin Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 1982 Impact factor: 3.015
Authors: Danelle Rolle-McFarland; Yingzi Liu; Farshad Mostafaei; S Elizabeth Zauber; Yuanzhong Zhou; Yan Li; Quiyan Fan; Wei Zheng; Linda H Nie; Ellen M Wells Journal: Neurotoxicology Date: 2021-12-10 Impact factor: 4.294
Authors: Fernando Morante-Carballo; Néstor Montalván-Burbano; Maribel Aguilar-Aguilar; Paúl Carrión-Mero Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-07-03 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Buyun Du; Ping Li; Xinbin Feng; Guangle Qiu; Jun Zhou; Laurence Maurice Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2016-11-08 Impact factor: 3.390