ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2015
An Investigation of Organic and Inorganic Mercury Exposure and Blood Pressure in a Small-Scale Gold Mining Community in Ghana.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Re-thinking the link between exposure to mercury and blood pressure.Archives of toxicology · 2025Pooled it
- Mercury Exposure and Its Health Effects in Workers in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Sector-A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension in Ghana: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Mercury Exposure, Blood Pressure, and Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Dose-response Meta-analysis.Environmental health perspectives · 2018Pooled it
- A multicentric cross-sectional survey to assess cardiovascular risk factors among persons working in informal gold mines in French-Guiana.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Health effects of heavy metals in meat and poultry consumption in Noakhali, Bangladesh.Toxicology reports · 2024Article
- Environmental health impacts and controlling measures of anthropogenic activities on groundwater quality in Southwestern Nigeria.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2022Review
- Health significant alarms of toxic carcinogenic risk consumption of blood meal metals contamination in poultry at a gold mining neighborhood, northern Thailand.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2022Article
- Mercury (Hg) use and pollution assessment of ASGM in Ghana: challenges and strategies towards Hg reduction.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Review
- The Aging Kidney-As Influenced by Heavy Metal Exposure and Selenium Supplementation.Biomolecules · 2021Review
- Erythrocytes as a Model for Heavy Metal-Related Vascular Dysfunction: The Protective Effect of Dietary Components.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Vascular Dysfunction Induced by Mercury Exposure.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Review
- Pulmonary function and respiratory health of rural farmers and artisanal and small scale gold miners in Ghana.Environmental research · 2017Article
- Cross-sectional assessment of infants' exposure to toxic metals through breast milk in a prospective cohort study of mining communities in Ghana.BMC public health · 2017Article
- The aging kidney and the nephrotoxic effects of mercury.Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B, Critical reviews · 2017Review
- Multiple elemental exposures amongst workers at the Agbogbloshie electronic waste (e-waste) site in Ghana.Chemosphere · 2016Article
- An Integrated Assessment Approach to Address Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Ghana.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Article
- Integrated assessment of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Ghana--part 1: human health review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2015Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
There is increasing concern about the cardiovascular effects of mercury (Hg) exposure, and that organic methylmercury and inorganic Hg(2+) may affect the cardiovascular system and blood pressure differentially. In small-scale gold mining communities where inorganic, elemental Hg exposures are high, little is known about the effects of Hg on blood pressure. In 2011, we assessed the relationship between Hg exposure and blood pressure (BP) in a cross-sectional study of adults from a small-scale gold mining community, Kejetia, and subsistence farming community, Gorogo, in Ghana's Upper East Region. Participants' resting heart rate and BP were measured, and hair and urine samples were provided to serve as biomarkers of organic and inorganic Hg exposure, respectively. Participants included 70 miners and 26 non-miners from Kejetia and 75 non-miners from Gorogo. Total specific gravity-adjusted urinary and hair Hg was higher among Kejetia miners than Kejetia non-miners and Gorogo participants (median urinary Hg: 5.17, 1.18, and 0.154 µg/L, respectively; hair Hg: 0.945, 0.419, and 0.181 µg/g, respectively). Hypertension was prevalent in 17.7% of Kejetia and 21.3% of Gorogo participants. Urinary and hair Hg were not significantly associated with systolic or diastolic BP for Kejetia or Gorogo participants while adjusting for sex, age, and smoking status. Although our results follow trends seen in other studies, the associations were not of statistical significance. Given the unique study population and high exposures to inorganic Hg, the work contained here will help increase our understanding of the cardiovascular effects of Hg.
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