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Heart failure, mercury poisoning and fish
Identifier
006247
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
Background info on the causes of heart failure
Why just men?
This study is not saying fish is the source of mercury, it is saying that the protective effects of consuming fish are being destroyed by the people exposure/consumption of mercury from some unspecified source
A description of the experience
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005 Jan;25(1):228-33. Epub 2004 Nov 11. Mercury, fish oils, and risk of acute coronary events and cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in men in eastern Finland. Virtanen JK, Voutilainen S, Rissanen TH, Mursu J, Tuomainen TP, Korhonen MJ, Valkonen VP, Seppänen K, Laukkanen JA, Salonen JT. Research Institute of Public Health, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. jyrki.virtanen@uku.fi
OBJECTIVE: Mercury has been suggested to have negative effects on cardiovascular health. We investigated the effects of high mercury content in hair on the risk of acute coronary events and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in men from eastern Finland.
METHODS AND RESULTS: The population-based prospective Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD) cohort of 1871 Finnish men aged 42 to 60 years and free of previous coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke at baseline was used. During an average follow-up time of 13.9 years, 282 acute coronary events and 132 cardiovascular disease (CVD), 91 CHD, and 525 all-cause deaths occurred.
Men in the highest third of hair mercury content (>2.03 microg/g) had an adjusted 1.60-fold (95% CI, 1.24 to 2.06) risk of acute coronary event, 1.68-fold (95% CI, 1.15 to 2.44) risk of CVD, 1.56-fold (95% CI, 0.99 to 2.46) risk of CHD, and 1.38-fold (95% CI, 1.15 to 1.66) risk of any death compared with men in the lower two thirds. High mercury content in hair also attenuated the protective effects of high-serum docosahexaenoic acid plus docosapentaenoic acid concentration.
CONCLUSIONS: High content of mercury in hair may be a risk factor for acute coronary events and CVD, CHD, and all-cause mortality in middle-aged eastern Finnish men. Mercury may also attenuate the protective effects of fish on cardiovascular health.
PMID: 15539625
The source of the experience
PubMedConcepts, symbols and science items
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Overloads
Heart failure and coronary heart diseaseHeavy metal poisoning
Mercury poisoning