Mercury in human brain, blood, muscle and toenails in relation to exposure: an autopsy study

Björkman, Lars; Lundekvam, Birgitte F; Lægreid, Torgils; Bertelsen, Bjørn I; Morild, Inge; Lilleng, Peer; Lind, Birger; Palm, Brita; Vahter, Marie

doi:10.1186/1476-069X-6-30

Environmental Health

Table 3 Correlation coefficients between concentrations of mercury in tissues, age and number of amalgam surfaces. ^a

From: Mercury in human brain, blood, muscle and toenails in relation to exposure: an autopsy study

		I-Hg in blood	MeHg in blood	I-Hg in occipital cortex	MeHg in occipital cortex	Hg in occipital cortex	Hg in pituitary	Hg in thyroid	Hg in toenail	Hg in abdominal muscle	Age	Filled surfaces – amalgam
I-Hg in blood	Correlation		0.251	-0.026	0.052	0.006	-0.062	-0.039	0.065	-0.045	-0.402	0.432
	Sig. (2-tailed)		0.181	0.891	0.784	0.974	0.744	0.845	0.738	0.815	0.028	0.017
	N		30	30	30	30	30	28	29	30	30	30
MeHg in blood	Correlation	0.246		-0.071	0.725	0.232	-0.107	-0.090	0.634	0.230	0.055	-0.126
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.198		0.710	<0.001	0.218	0.572	0.648	<0.001	0.221	0.774	0.507
	N	29		30	30	30	30	28	29	30	30	30
I-Hg in occipital cortex	Correlation	0.253	0.134		0.339	0.927	0.967	0.993	-0.086	-0.155	0.334	0.081
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.186	0.490		0.067	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.656	0.414	0.071	0.669
	N	29	29		30	30	30	28	29	30	30	30
MeHg in occipital cortex	Correlation	0.079	0.804	0.081		0.617	0.287	0.336	0.586	0.258	0.154	-0.136
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.686	<0.001	0.677		<0.001	0.124	0.081	0.001	0.169	0.416	0.472
	N	29	29	29		30	30	28	29	30	30	30
Hg in	Correlation	0.147	0.713	0.604	0.768		0.904	0.910	0.154	-0.048	0.295	0.080
occipital cortex	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.447	<0.001	0.001	<0.001		<0.001	<0.001	0.425	0.800	0.113	0.676
	N	29	29	29	29		30	28	29	30	30	30
Hg in pituitary	Correlation	-0.002	-0.062	0.652	-0.086	0.390		0.953	-0.100	-0.149	0.261	0.173
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.993	0.748	<0.001	0.659	0.036		<0.001	0.607	0.432	0.163	0.360
	N	29	29	29	29	29		28	29	30	30	30
Hg in thyroid	Correlation	0.352	0.142	0.602	0.105	0.396	0.402		-0.087	-0.125	0.351	0.031
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.072	0.479	0.001	0.603	0.041	0.038		0.667	0.525	0.067	0.875
	N	27	27	27	27	27	27		27	28	28	28
Hg in toenail	Correlation	0.060	0.631	-0.093	0.649	0.525	-0.095	-0.091		0.139	0.158	-0.328
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.760	<0.001	0.638	<0.001	0.004	0.629	0.660		0.472	0.414	0.083
	N	28	28	28	28	28	28	26		29	29	29
Hg in abdominal muscle	Correlation	-0.055	0.220	-0.079	0.328	0.186	-0.038	0.335	0.130		-0.003	-0.081
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.778	0.251	0.683	0.083	0.334	0.847	0.088	0.510		0.988	0.672
	N	29	29	29	29	29	29	27	28		30	30
Age	Correlation	-0.408	0.096	-0.208	0.037	-0.084	-0.287	-0.215	0.200	0.055		-0.610
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.028	0.621	0.278	0.849	0.664	0.131	0.282	0.308	0.778		<0.001
	N	29	29	29	29	29	29	27	28	29		30
Filled surfaces – amalgam	Correlation	0.433	-0.127	0.550	-0.144	0.185	0.541	0.530	-0.328	-0.082	-0.655
	Sig. (2-tailed)	0.019	0.513	0.002	0.457	0.337	0.002	0.004	0.088	0.673	<0.001
	N	29	29	29	29	29	29	27	28	29	29

^a The upper part of the table (above the diagonal) shows the correlations using all cases (n = 30) and the lower part (below the diagonal) shows the correlations after exclusion of the case with previous occupational exposure to mercury (dental nurse, see text). P-values and number of cases included in the analysis are given. Significant correlations (p < 0.05) in bold.

Back to article page

ISSN: 1476-069X

Contact us

General enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com