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

Table 4 Results from linear multiple regression analyses. ^a

Dependent variable	Independent variable(s) in the final model	Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.	95 % Confidence Interval for B
		B	Std. Error	Beta			Lower Bound	Upper Bound
a) I-Hg in brain cortex	Constant	4.366	0.925		4.720	<0.001	2.468	6.264
	Filled surfaces – amalgam	0.153	0.045	0.550	3.423	0.002	0.061	0.245
b) Total-Hg in pituitary	Constant	25.540	36.893		0.692	0.495	-50.158	101.238
	Filled surfaces – amalgam	5.972	1.788	0.541	3.340	0.002	2.304	9.640
c) Total-Hg in thyroid	Constant	13.682	3.359		4.073	<0.001	6.763	20.601
	Filled surfaces – amalgam	0.491	0.157	0.530	3.126	0.004	0.168	0.815
d) Total-Hg in toenails	Constant	126.115	50.564		2.494	.019	22.180	230.051
	MeHg in blood (μg/L)	58.888	14.190	0.631	4.150	<0.001	29.720	88.056

^a Final results from linear multiple regression analyses using number of surfaces filled with amalgam, age, gender, and MeHg in blood as independent variables (all variables entered at the first step, and removed in the following step(s) if the p-value of the variable was ≥0.10) and (a) I-Hg in brain cortex (μg I-Hg/kg) as dependent variable, (b) Total-Hg in pituitary (μg Hg/kg) as dependent variable, (c) Total-Hg in thyroid (μg Hg/kg) as dependent variable and (d) Total-Hg in toenails (μg Hg/kg) as dependent variable. The case with previous occupational exposure to mercury (case 28) was excluded from the regression analyses (see text). N = 29 in model (a) and (b), n = 27 in model (c) and n = 28 in model (d).

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