Mercury and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Men
Kazuko Yoshizawa, Sc.D., Eric B. Rimm, Sc.D., J. Steven Morris, Ph.D., Vickie L. Spate, Chung-cheng Hsieh, Sc.D., Donna Spiegelman, Sc.D., Meir J. Stampfer, M.D., and Walter C. Willett, M.D.
Background A high dietary intake of mercury from consumptionof fish has been hypothesized to increase the risk of coronaryheart disease.
Methods Using a nested case–control design, we investigatedthe association between mercury levels in toenails and the riskof coronary heart disease among male health professionals withno previous history of cardiovascular disease or cancer whowere 40 to 75 years of age in 1986. Toenail clippings were collectedin 1987 from 33,737 cohort members, and during five years offollow-up, we documented 470 cases of coronary heart disease(coronary-artery surgery, nonfatal myocardial infarction, andfatal coronary heart disease). Each patient was matched accordingto age and smoking status with a randomly selected control subject.
Results The mercury level was significantly correlated withfish consumption (Spearman r=0.42, P<0.001), and the meanmercury level was higher in dentists than in nondentists (mean,0.91 and 0.45 µg per gram, respectively; P<0.001).After age, smoking, and other risk factors for coronary heartdisease had been controlled for, the mercury level was not significantlyassociated with the risk of coronary heart disease. When thehighest and lowest quintiles of mercury level were compared,the relative risk of coronary heart disease was 0.97 in thehighest level (95 percent confidence interval, 0.63 to 1.50;P value for trend=0.78). Adjustment for intake of n–3fatty acids from fish did not appreciably change these results.
Conclusions Our findings do not support an association betweentotal mercury exposure and the risk of coronary heart disease,but a weak relation cannot be ruled out.
Source Information
From the Departments of Nutrition (K.Y., E.B.R., M.J.S., W.C.W.) and Epidemiology (E.B.R., C.H., D.S., M.J.S., W.C.W.), Harvard School of Public Health, Boston; the Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (E.B.R., M.J.S., W.C.W.); and the Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri–Columbia, Columbia (J.S.M., V.L.S.).
Mercury and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction
Plante M., Babo S., Mutter J., Naumann J., Buettner C., Guallar E., Riemersma R. A., Kok F. J., Yoshizawa K., Rimm E. B., Willett W. C., Bolger P. M., Schwetz B.
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N Engl J Med 2003;
348:2151-2154, May 22, 2003.
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