Korean J Fam Pract 2019; 9(6): 499-505  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2019.9.6.499
Relationship between Blood Mercury and Cardiovascular Risk, Neuropathic Symptoms of Adults in a Yeong-dong Area of Gangwon-do
Jung-Ran Lee, Hyeong-Cheol Lee, Hyeon-A Lee, Min-Sun Kim, Kwan-Woo Park, Woo-Joo Park, Mi-Keong Oh*
Department of Family Medicine, Gangneung Asan Hospital, Gangneung, Korea
Mi-Keong Oh
Tel: +82-33-610-3325, Fax: +82-33-641-8130
E-mail: omk@gnah.co.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3602-9588
Received: October 8, 2018; Revised: September 26, 2019; Accepted: September 30, 2019; Published online: December 20, 2019.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Exposure to mercury is known to affect the nervous system and cardiovascular system, but effects of chronic exposure to mercury remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of high blood mercury concentrations on the health of patients living in the Yeong-dong region.
Methods: We analyzed the relationship between blood mercury concentration and cardiovascular risk and neuropathic symptoms for 555 patients whose blood mercury concentration was tested from 1999 to 2017. We analyzed the association of each lipid component and blood mercury concentration through a partial correlation method. We performed an analysis to determine the odds ratios (ORs) of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity to high blood mercury levels through a logistic regression model. We analyzed the association between mercury levels and neuropathic symptoms using a χ2 test and calculated the OR.
Results: The average blood mercury concentration was 8.1±7.5 µg/L and 5.5±5.2 µg/L for males and females, respectively. There was a positive correlation of mercury concentration with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (r, 0.268, 0.219; P-value, <0.001). Among other cardiovascular disease risk factors, no significant correlation was found with high blood mercury level. A tingling sensation in females was related to a high blood mercury level (OR, 2.080; 95% confidence interval, 1.119–3.866).
Conclusion: It was found that higher mercury concentrations could affect high-density lipoprotein cholesterol regardless of sex and can cause a tingling sensation in women.
Keywords: Mercury; High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; Impaired Sensation
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