A PILOT NEURODEVELOPMENTAL STUDY OF SEYCHELLOIS CHILDREN FOLLOWING IN-UTERO EXPOSURE TO METHYLMERCURY FROM A MATERNAL FISH DIET

It is not known if fetal neurodevelopmental damage occurs in humans at the low-level methylmercury exposure achieved by eating fish. To addr ess this question, a cohort of 804 children in the Republic of Seychel les was identified who had fetal methylmercury exposure from a materna l diet high in oceanic fish. Mercury was determined by measuring the m aternal total hair mercury during pregnancy, a standard index of methy lmercury exposure. The median fetal mercury exposure was 6.6 ppm. Chil dren were evaluated once between 5 to 109 weeks of age. Testing includ ed the revised Denver Developmental Screening Test (DDST-R) and a neur ological examination. The association between maternal hair mercury le vels and developmental outcome was evaluated by multiple logistic regr ession analysis. Covariates for the child included gender, birth weigh t, one and five-minute Apgar score, age at testing, and medical proble ms, and, for the mother, age, tobacco and alcohol consumption during p regnancy, and medical problems. An association between fetal mercury e xposure and development was found when DDST-R scores of questionable a nd abnormal were combined, a procedure used by previous investigators. These results should be viewed with caution since the association dis appeared when DDST-R scores of questionable were treated in the standa rd manner as passes. (C) 1995 Inter Press, Inc.