SynthesisBulletin of the World Health Organization2014
Global methylmercury exposure from seafood consumption and risk of developmental neurotoxicity: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 81 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
81 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A Systematic Review of Mercury Exposures from Skin-Lightening Products.Environmental health perspectives · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Mercury Exposure among Populations and Environments in Contact with Electronic Waste.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- DNA methylation changes associated with prenatal mercury exposure: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies from PACE consortium.Environmental research · 2022Pooled it
- Chronic mercury exposure and blood pressure in children and adolescents: a systematic review.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Pooled it
- Fish consumption and risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a dose-response meta-analysis of prospective observational studies.Public health nutrition · 2018Pooled it
- Mercury Exposure and Heart Rate Variability: a Systematic Review.Current environmental health reports · 2015Pooled it
- Salidroside in heavy metal toxicity: a mechanistic review of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic pathways.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Review
- Human Mercury Biomonitoring Under the Minamata Convention: Blood, Urine, Hair, and Tissue Biomarkers (2000-2026).Biological trace element research · 2026Review
- Prenatal methylmercury exposure disrupts developmental trajectories and induces sex-specific toxicity in pubertal rats.Research square · 2026Article
- Lactic Acid Bacteria as In Vivo Protective Strategy Against Dietary Methylmercury Exposure.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Article
- Mercury-induced excitotoxicity in autism spectrum disorder: disruption of glutamatergic homeostasis and the therapeutic role of the selenium-glutathione axis.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2026Review
- A risk-benefit assessment of dietary selenium and its implications in preschool children's growth performance in Taiwan.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Seafood consumption patterns and methylmercury risk awareness among Saudi adults: a nationwide cross-sectional survey documenting a structural knowledge-behavior gap.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Biomarkers for tracking metabolic changes pre-post nutritional epigenetics diet/intervention to prevent autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders in children.World journal of experimental medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Article
- Risk assessment of some toxic metals in canned fish products retailed in Mansoura, Egypt.Open veterinary journal · 2024Article
- Mining-impacted rice paddies select for Archaeal methylators and reveal a putative (Archaeal) regulator of mercury methylation.ISME communications · 2023Article
- Noise, Air, and Heavy Metal Pollution as Risk Factors for Endothelial Dysfunction.European cardiology · 2023Review
- Risk assessment of toxic residues among some freshwater and marine water fish species.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Article
21 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo examine biomarkers of methylmercury (MeHg) intake in women and infants from seafood-consuming populations globally and characterize the comparative risk of fetal developmental neurotoxicity.
methodsA search was conducted of the published literature reporting total mercury (Hg) in hair and blood in women and infants. These biomarkers are validated proxy measures of MeHg, a neurotoxin found primarily in seafood. Average and high-end biomarkers were extracted, stratified by seafood consumption context, and pooled by category. Medians for average and high-end pooled distributions were compared with the reference level established by a joint expert committee of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
findingsSelection criteria were met by 164 studies of women and infants from 43 countries. Pooled average biomarkers suggest an intake of MeHg several times over the FAO/WHO reference in fish-consuming riparians living near small-scale gold mining and well over the reference in consumers of marine mammals in Arctic regions. In coastal regions of south-eastern Asia, the western Pacific and the Mediterranean, average biomarkers approach the reference. Although the two former groups have a higher risk of neurotoxicity than the latter, coastal regions are home to the largest number at risk. High-end biomarkers across all categories indicate MeHg intake is in excess of the reference value.
conclusionThere is a need for policies to reduce Hg exposure among women and infants and for surveillance in high-risk populations, the majority of which live in low-and middle-income countries.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.