TABLE 4.
Self-Reported Symptoms, Mercury Exposure, and COMT Polymorphism
| Exposure | Symptom group/duration | Males (n = 181) | Females (n = 211) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base model | Full model | Base model | Full model | ||||||
| Beta | Sig. | Beta | Sig. | Beta | Sig. | Beta | Sig. | ||
| Natural log of urinary mercury adjusted for COMT | Confusion–one variable | ||||||||
| Today | .157 | .069 | .224 | .008 | |||||
| Recent | (−.788)† | .022 | (−.571)† | .082 | |||||
| Confusion–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .167 | .073 | .214 | .019 | |||||
| Recent | (−769) | .036 | (−.481) | .163 | |||||
| Moody–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .150 | .046 | .161 | .033 | |||||
| Stomach–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .186 | .064 | .215 | .031 | |||||
| Skin–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Recent | .369 | .244 | .562 | .044 | |||||
| Age-standardized chronic mercury index adjusted for COMT | Coordination–grouped variables | ||||||||
| Recent | .519 | .037 | .351 | .134 | |||||
| Chronic | .462 | .031 | .502 | .016 | |||||
| Anxiety–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .099 | .051 | .106 | .030 | |||||
| Headache–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .061 | .038 | .070 | .012 | .131 | .015 | .132 | .016 | |
| Skin–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Recent | .708 | .033 | .833 | .007 | |||||
| Chronic | .664 | .048 | .733 | .019 | |||||
| Lung–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Chronic | (−.184) | .053 | (−.196) | .030 | |||||
| COMT–Het(V/M) | Depression–grouped variables | ||||||||
| Today | (−.294) | .036 | (−.277) | .045 | |||||
| Headache–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | (−.369) | .006 | (−.370) | .005 | |||||
| Muscle–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | (−.184) | .052 | (−.209) | .022 | |||||
| Skin–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Recent | (−.887) | .025 | (−.999) | .005 | |||||
| Chronic | (−.943) | 015 | (−1.076) | .001 | |||||
| COMT–Mut(M/M) | Confusion–one variable | ||||||||
| Recent | .948 | .050 | 1.059 | .023 | |||||
| Chronic | .821 | .076 | .890 | .049 | |||||
| Coordination-grouped variables | |||||||||
| Recent | .554 | .099 | .675 | .028 | |||||
| Confusion–grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .164 | .009 | .182 | .002 | |||||
| Recent | .681 | .016 | .835 | .001 | |||||
| Chronic | .477 | .029 | .537 | .006 | |||||
| Skin-grouped variables | |||||||||
| Today | .151 | .266 | .289 | .020 | |||||
Note. Only gender-specific categories with significant associations are shown; beta values represent the strength of the association between 0 and 100%. Boldface numerals indicate significant (p < .05); italicized numerals indicate not significant (shown for comparison between base and full models); parentheses indicate a negative association (reduced symptoms associated with exposure); †, also has significant association with COMT-Mut.