↓ Skip to main content

Prenatal mercury exposure, autism, and developmental delay, using pharmacokinetic combination of newborn blood concentrations and questionnaire data: a case control study

Overview of attention for article published in Environmental Health, July 2015
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (82nd percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (52nd percentile)

Mentioned by

policy
1 policy source
twitter
10 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
26 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
117 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Prenatal mercury exposure, autism, and developmental delay, using pharmacokinetic combination of newborn blood concentrations and questionnaire data: a case control study
Published in
Environmental Health, July 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12940-015-0045-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Stephen J. McKean, Scott M. Bartell, Robin L. Hansen, Gry H. Barfod, Peter G. Green, Irva Hertz-Picciotto

Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg), known for well over a century as a neurotoxin in adults, has more recently been studied for potential detrimental effects during early brain development. While several studies have estimated mercury exposure, they usually rely on either a single biomarker or questionnaire data, each of which has limitations. The goal of this paper was to develop a toxicokinetic model that incorporates both biomarker and questionnaire data to estimate the cumulative exposure to MeHg through seafood consumption using data collected from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study. We utilized a previously described discrete-time model that estimates blood MeHg concentration given a piecewise-constant ingestion rate and single-compartment pharmacokinetics. We measured newborn bloodspot Hg concentrations and obtained information pertaining to maternal fish consumption using a questionnaire. Using MeHg concentration estimates from the toxicokinetic model, cumulative MeHg exposure was estimated in children with autism, children with developmental delay, and typically developing children. Median estimated cumulative MeHg was compared among diagnostic groups using the Kruskal-Wallis Test. Multinomial logistic regression models were constructed to assess the association between cumulative MeHg concentration and the risk of autism and developmental delay (vs. typical development). The estimated average MeHg concentration of for all fish species consumed by mothers was 42 ppb. Median cumulative MeHg over gestation was similar across diagnostic groups (p-values raged from 0.91 to 0.98). After adjusting for potential confounding, we found no association between cumulative MeHg exposure and the risk of autism (OR = 0.95, 95 % CI: 0.95, 1.12) or developmental delay (OR = 1.00, 95 % CI: 0.89, 1.13). The toxicokinetic model described in this paper yielded fish MeHg concentration estimates that are consistent with fish species containing lower levels of MeHg. Overall, cumulative MeHg exposure does not appear to detectably elevate the risk of autism or developmental delay. Based on the regression standard error for the association between ASD and TD, we would have reported statistical significance for an adjusted odds ratio of 1.09 or larger. This method can easily be extended to other epidemiologic studies in which there is a biomarker measurement and questionnaire data regarding exposure.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 10 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 117 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 116 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 24 21%
Student > Master 21 18%
Student > Ph. D. Student 13 11%
Researcher 10 9%
Student > Postgraduate 6 5%
Other 14 12%
Unknown 29 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 17 15%
Psychology 14 12%
Nursing and Health Professions 8 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 7%
Social Sciences 8 7%
Other 28 24%
Unknown 34 29%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 November 2023.
All research outputs
#4,034,008
of 25,116,143 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Health
#633
of 1,586 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#47,640
of 269,509 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Health
#12
of 23 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,116,143 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,586 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 37.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 269,509 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 23 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its contemporaries.