Total Hg level in hair, its predictors and relationship with health risk of Chelyabinsk residents

Abstract

We studied the total mercury concentration (T-Hg) in the hair of people living in Chelyabinsk. Hair analysis was combined with a survey evaluating relationships and variations among subgroups and potential metal exposure predictors. We determined the influence of factors such as age, gender, location of residence, smoking, hair color, T-Hg contents in soil, road dust, household dust as well as fish and potato consumption in the diet. The mean value of T-Hg in the hair for the subjects under study (0.402 μg/g) was lower than the value referred from the World Health Organization (WHO) (1–2 μg/g). There was no linear correlation between mercury hair levels and age or gender. We found a significant positive correlation between T-Hg concentration in hair and health сardiometabolic risk as well as the Hg content in road dust and the Hg of potato consumption in the diet. The data from this study can be used to develop prevention strategies for the health of residents.