Table 2.
Biomarkers and household soil Hg concentrations for all participants.
| Biomarker | Kejetia | Gorogo | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Miners a | Non-miners a | All | ||
| Urine | n | 92 | 68 | 24 | 70 |
| Urinary Specific Gravity (SG) | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 1.018 (0.007) d | 1.017 (0.007) | 1.020 (0.006) | 1.014 (0.006) | |
| Urinary Hg (µg/L) | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 30.9 (148.5) d | 39.5 (172.1) e | 6.61 (13.2) | 0.161 (0.131) | |
| Median | 2.94 | 4.83 | 1.41 | 0.114 | |
| IQR b | 1.04, 11.0 | 1.26, 12.9 | 0.742, 5.23 | 0.079, 0.217 | |
| Min-Max | 0.160–1372 | 0.160–1372 | 0.199–58.1 | 0.026–0.580 | |
| >10 µg/L Hg (%) | 25 (27.2%) | 21 (30.9%) | 4 (16.7%) | 0 (0%) | |
| >50 µg/L Hg (%) | 8 (8.7%) | 7 (10.3%) | 1 (4.2%) | 0 (0%) | |
| SG-adj. Urinary Hg c (µg/L) | |||||
| Mean (SD) | 22.8 (107.8) d | 29.3 (124.9) e | 4.22 (6.88) | 0.216 (0.194) | |
| Median | 3.35 | 5.18 | 1.18 | 0.154 | |
| IQR b | 1.14, 10.5 | 1.92, 12.7 | 0.733, 3.61 | 0.095, 0.261 | |
| Min-Max | 0.18–998 | 0.188–998 | 0.212–25.8 | 0.042–1.24 | |
| >10 µg/L Hg (%) | 24 (26.0%) | 20 (29.4%) | 4 (16.7%) | 0 (0%) | |
| >50 µg/L Hg (%) | 4 (4.3%) | 4 (5.9%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Hair Hg (µg/g) | n | 70 | 51 | 19 | 59 |
| Mean (SD) | 0.974 (0.748) d | 1.13 (0.809) e | 0.558 (0.272) | 0.231 (0.202) | |
| Median | 0.783 | 0.967 | 0.419 | 0.181 | |
| IQR b | 0.408, 1.22 | 0.589, 1.47 | 0.329, 0.781 | 0.119, 0.244 | |
| Min-Max | 0.132–3.69 | 0.132–3.69 | 0.237–1.10 | 0.037–1.37 | |
a Refers to current miners and non-current miners; b Interquartile range (25th percentile, 75th percentile); c Specific gravity adjustment equation: Urinary Hg × ((1-avg. SG)/(Urine SG-1)); d Gorogo vs. Kejetia t-test comparing means of log-transformed data (except for specific gravity), p < 0.001; e Miners vs. non-miners t-test comparing means of log-transformed data, p < 0.05.