Fish consumption habits of pregnant women in Itaituba, Tapajós River basin, Brazil: risks of mercury contamination as assessed by measuring total mercury in highly consumed piscivore fish species and in hair of pregnant women Cover

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Fish consumption habits of pregnant women in Itaituba, Tapajós River basin, Brazil: risks of mercury contamination as assessed by measuring total mercury in highly consumed piscivore fish species and in hair of pregnant women

Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology

Volume 73 (2022): Issue 2 (June 2022)

By: Ricardo Bezerra de Oliveira, Domingas Machado da Silva, Thamilles Santa Bárbara Sousa Franco, Cláudio Ramon Sena Vasconcelos, Deise Juliane dos Anjos de Sousa, Sandra Layse Ferreira Sarrazin, Mineshi Sakamoto and Jean-Paul Bourdineaud

Open Access

|Jul 2022

Figures & Tables

Geographical position of Itaituba

Variations of the Tapajós River water levels (cm) in Itaituba from July 2018 to June 2019

Relationship between mercury concentration and weight and total length of fish caught and consumed in Itaituba. Left columns: Cichla spp. (tucunaré; n=48); right columns: P. squamosissimus (pescada; n=48)

Distribution of participants by residence in and around Itaituba along the Tapajós River (Amazon, Brazil). The left panel shows residences as green dots. The lower part of the right panel shows the legend, translated as follows: Itaituba (Cidade de Itaituba); Urban area (Área urbana); Rural zone (Zona rural); Other cities (Outras cidades); Access roads (Vias deacesso) ; Water (Hidrographia); the Tapajós River (Rio Tapajós) ; Pará Municipalities (Municipios do Pará); State of Amazonas (Estado do Amazonas)

Hair THg levels in participating pregnant women from Itaituba and distribution of increased health risks from Hg exposure by fish consumption

Fish consumption (g/week)	Hair THg (mg/kg, mean ± SD)	Risk rate based on US EPA RfD ^a	Risk rate based on LOAEHC ^b
0–100 (n=37)	1.1±0.9	0.7 (33 %)	2.3 (83 %)
101–200 (n=25)	1.7±1.3	1.7 (58 %)	5.7 (87 %)
201–400 (n=24)	1.6±1.3	1.1 (54 %)	3.8 (100 %)
> 400 (n=22)	2.4±2.2*	1.2 (57 %)	3.9 (100 %)

Total mercury concentrations (mg/kg) in Cichla spp_ (tucunaré) and P_ squamosissimus (pescada) fish caught in the Tapajós River basin, Brazil

	Dry season (July – December 2018)		Rainy season (January – June 2019)
	Cichla spp. (n=26)	P. squamosissimus (n=24)	Cichla spp. (n=24)	P. squamosissimus (n=24)
Mean ± SD	0.62±0.35	0.73±0.37	0.39±0.21*	0.54±0.37
Min–max	0.17–1.68	0.05–1.37	0.12–0.94	0.25–1.65
Median	0.59	0.83	0.29	0.89
25^th quartile	0.39	0.55	0.24	0.55
75^th quartile	0.75	0.92	0.54	1.12

Relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of participating pregnant women from Itaituba and hair THg concentrations (mg/kg)

		n	%	Hair THg (mean ± SD)
Age	18–20	40	36.4	2.3±3.5
	21–30	57	51.8	1.6±1.4
	31–40	13	11.8	1.5±2.3
Schooling	Elementary school	54	49.2	2.1±2.3
	High school	38	34.5	1.7±2.1
	Academic education	18	16.3	1.5±2.3
Marital status	Married or living as married	85	77.2	1.5±1.7
Marital status	Single	25	22.8	2.5±4.3
Race	White	2	1.8	0.6±0.01
	Black	7	6.3	3.9±6.3
	Mixed race	101	91.9	1.7±1.9
Occupation	Housewife	90	81.9	1.8±2.0
	Student	7	6.3	3.6±6.4
	Other occupation	13	11.8	1.3±1.5

Biometric parameters in two predator fish species from the Tapajós River basin, Amazon, Brazil

	Biometric parameters	Dry season		Rainy season
	Biometric parameters	Mean ± SD	Min–Max	Mean ± SD	Min–Max
Plagioscion squamosissimus	Weight (g)	224±40	150–315	207±32	149–261
	Total length (cm)	27.2±0.5	25.0–30.5	27.1±1.2	25.4–29.7
	Standard length (cm)	22.4±1.4	20.1–24.8	22.4±1.2	20.7–25.4
Cichla spp.	Weight (g)	344±129	195–792	271±69	194–406
	Total length (cm)	29.4±3.1	25.0–38.5	27.8±2.0	25.5–32.1
	Standard length (cm)	24.5±2.8	20.7–32	23.2±1.7	21.0–27.3

Relationship between body mass index (BMI) of participating pregnant women from Itaituba and hair THg concentration (mg/kg)

BMI	Weight status	n	Hair THg (mean ± SD)
18.5–24.9	normal	33	1.9±2.8
25.0–29.9	overweight	49	1.8±2.7
30.0–39.9	obese	24	1.8±1.4
≥40.0	severe obesity	4	1.4±0.6

Fish species consumed by pregnant women (n=110) from Itaituba, Brazil

Fish local name (species)	Participants reporting eating listed fish (N)	%	Fish description by diet
Tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum)	90	82	Frugivore
*Pescada branca (Plagioscion squamosissimus)*	74	67	Piscivore
Pacú (Serrassalmidae spp.)	60	54	Frugivore
*Tucunaré (Cichla* spp.)**	49	44	Piscivore
Aracú (Leporinus spp.)	41	37	Omnivore
Caratinga (Geophagus spp.)	40	36	Omnivore
Surubim (Pseudoplatystoma spp.)	37	33	Piscivore
Charutinho (Hemiodus spp.)	33	30	Omnivore
Dourada (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii)	33	30	Carnivore
Filhote (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum)	33	30	Carnivore
Pirarucu (Arapaima gigas)	30	27	Piscivore
Curimatá (Prochilodus nigricans)	28	25	Detritivore
Acari (Pterygoplichthys spp.)	22	20	Detritivore
Matrinxã (Brycon spp.)	22	20	Omnivore
Aruanã (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum)	21	19	Carnivore
Pirarara (Phractocephalus hemioliopterus)	21	19	Omnivore
Apapá (Pellona spp.)	18	16	Carnivore
Piau (Anostomidae spp.)	16	14	Detritivore
Pirapitinga (Piaractus brachypomus)	16	14	Frugivore
Jaraqui (Semaprochilodus spp.)	2	2	Detritivore
Mapará (Hypophthalmus spp.)	2	2	Planktivore

Relationship between blood pressure in participating pregnant women from Itaituba and hair THg concentration (μg/g)

Blood pressure (mmHg, mean ± SD)^a		n	Fish intake (g/week)	Hair THg (mg/kg, mean ± SD)
Systolic	Diastolic
101±7	65±6	40	0–100	1.1±0.9
103±8	68±8	26	101–200	1.7±1.3
101±10	67±5	23	201–400	1.6±1.3
103±12	69±10	21	401–800	2.43±2.2

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2022-73-3611 | Journal eISSN: 1848-6312 | Journal ISSN: 0004-1254

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Language: English, Croatian, Slovenian

Page range: 131 - 142

Submitted on: Nov 1, 2021

Accepted on: May 1, 2022

Published on: Jul 7, 2022

Published by: Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

Related subjects:

Basic medical science,

Basic medical science, other

© 2022 Ricardo Bezerra de Oliveira, Domingas Machado da Silva, Thamilles Santa Bárbara Sousa Franco, Cláudio Ramon Sena Vasconcelos, Deise Juliane dos Anjos de Sousa, Sandra Layse Ferreira Sarrazin, Mineshi Sakamoto, Jean-Paul Bourdineaud, published by Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

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