Mercury Exposure in Women of Reproductive Age in Rondônia State, Amazon Region, Brazil.

Environmental contamination by mercury (Hg) is a problem of global scale that affects human health. This study's aim was to evaluate Hg exposure among women of reproductive age residing in the Madeira River basin, in the State of Rondônia, Brazilian Amazon. This longitudinal cohort study used linear regression models to assess the effects on Hg levels of breastfeeding duration at 6 months, and of breastfeeding duration and number of new children at 2-year and 5-year.

Data relating to maternal fish consumption, methylmercury exposure, and early child neurodevelopment in the traditional living of Western Amazonians.

This data paper includes information of a cohort organized to study the health, nutrition, and development of Amazonian children [1]. Child development were evaluated by trained nurses and psychologists with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (at 24 months), the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (at 60 months) and also with questionnaires administered by trained interviewers to the mothers. Maternal food questionnaires were used to estimate fish consumption and the associations between levels of prenatal and postnatal hair mercury (from mothers and children) and scores of neurodevelopment.