Mercury Exposure in Women of Reproductive Age in Rondônia State, Amazon Region, Brazil.

Environmental contamination by mercury (Hg) is a problem of global scale that affects human health. This study's aim was to evaluate Hg exposure among women of reproductive age residing in the Madeira River basin, in the State of Rondônia, Brazilian Amazon. This longitudinal cohort study used linear regression models to assess the effects on Hg levels of breastfeeding duration at 6 months, and of breastfeeding duration and number of new children at 2-year and 5-year. Breastfeeding duration was significantly associated with maternal Hg levels in all regression models (6 months, 2 years and 5 years) and no significant association was observed between the number of children and the change in maternal Hg levels in the 2-year and 5-year models. This longitudinal cohort study evaluated Hg levels and contributing factors among pregnant women from different communities (riverine, rural, mining and urban) in Rondônia, Amazon Region, for 5 years. A well-coordinated and designed national biomonitoring program is urgently needed to better understand the current situation of Hg levels in Brazil and the Amazon.

Data relating to maternal fish consumption, methylmercury exposure, and early child neurodevelopment in the traditional living of Western Amazonians.

This data paper includes information of a cohort organized to study the health, nutrition, and development of Amazonian children [1]. Child development were evaluated by trained nurses and psychologists with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (at 24 months), the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (at 60 months) and also with questionnaires administered by trained interviewers to the mothers. Maternal food questionnaires were used to estimate fish consumption and the associations between levels of prenatal and postnatal hair mercury (from mothers and children) and scores of neurodevelopment.