ArticleBMJ open2016
Are prenatal mercury levels associated with subsequent blood pressure in childhood and adolescence? The Avon prebirth cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Re-thinking the link between exposure to mercury and blood pressure.Archives of toxicology · 2025Pooled it
- Chronic mercury exposure and blood pressure in children and adolescents: a systematic review.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Pooled it
- Prenatal factors shaping adolescent cardiovascular function and cardiometabolic risk trajectories.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Review
- Dietary and related data collected during pregnancy in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Seafood Toxicant Exposure During Pregnancy, Lactation, and Childhood and Child Outcomes: A Scoping Review.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- Perinatal Metal and Metalloid Exposures and Offspring Cardiovascular Health Risk.Current environmental health reports · 2022Review
- A metabolome-wide association study of in utero metal and trace element exposures with cord blood metabolome profile: Findings from the Boston Birth Cohort.Environment international · 2022Article
- Article
- Blood lead and mercury levels are associated with low resting heart rate in community adolescent boys.International journal of hygiene and environmental health · 2021Article
- Association of Fish Consumption and Mercury Exposure During Pregnancy With Metabolic Health and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Children.JAMA network open · 2020Article
- A review of guidance on fish consumption in pregnancy: is it fit for purpose?Public health nutrition · 2018Review
- Prenatal mercury exposure and features of autism: a prospective population study.Molecular autism · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThere have been conflicting data suggesting that prenatal mercury exposure is associated with adverse cardiovascular measures in children. We therefore analysed a large prospective population study to investigate whether prenatal mercury exposure might influence offspring blood pressure (BP) and heart rate adversely.
designProspective birth cohort.
settingThe Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).
participantsMaternal whole blood collected in the first half of pregnancy was assayed for mercury and selenium. The offspring were followed throughout childhood and adolescence. OUTCOME MEASURES: Offspring resting BP and heart rates measured under standard conditions on six occasions between ages 7 and 17 years (numbers analysed: 1754 at 7 years to 1102 at 17).
resultsStatistical analyses took account of various factors present in pregnancy, including family adversity, maternal age, parity, smoking and alcohol intake. Unadjusted and adjusted regression analyses assessed the relationship between maternal prenatal mercury levels and offspring resting systolic and diastolic BP, and heart rates. A final set of analyses took account of selenium. Each analysis was carried out for all offspring, those whose mothers had, and those that had not, consumed fish during pregnancy. Further analysis for all offspring ascertained whether there were significant interaction effects between the sexes. There was little evidence to suggest that prenatal mercury exposure resulted in a clinically important increase in offspring BP in the whole group, since no effect size for an increase of 1 SD of blood mercury level was >0.3 mm Hg. Only 1 association was significant at p<0.05 and therefore likely due to chance.
conclusionsThis study reveals no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal mercury exposure has adverse long-term effects on offspring BP or heart rates during childhood or adolescence.
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