Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: A prospective cohort study in the United Kingdom does not support a causal association
Thimerosal exposure in infants and developmental disorders: A prospective cohort study in the United Kingdom does not support a causal association
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DOI：
10.1542/peds.2003-1176-l
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发表时间：
2004-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8
通讯作者：
Golding, J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Heron, J;Golding, J
Objective.汞暴露与儿童认知发育和早期运动技能受损之间存在着既定的联系。硫柳汞（又称硫柳汞）是一种用于许多儿童疫苗的防腐剂，含有乙基汞（汞的一种有机化合物），人们担心这种汞接触可能对幼儿造成某种损害。这项研究的目的是在一个大的英国人口为基础的队列测试是否有任何证据证明这种担忧。我们使用了儿童健康和发展纵向研究的人口数据。该研究监测了14000名来自以前称为英国埃文的地理区域的儿童，这些儿童在1991-1992年出生。记录接种含硫柳汞疫苗的年龄，计算3、4和6个月龄时汞暴露的测量值，并与6至91个月龄儿童认知和行为发育的测量值进行比较。与预期相反，未经调整的结果通常表明硫柳汞暴露的有益影响。例如，3个月时的暴露与47个月时的多动和行为问题呈负相关; 6个月和30个月时的运动发育; 81个月时的声音困难;以及91个月时的语言治疗，特殊需求和“陈述”。在对出生体重、妊娠期、性别、母亲教育、产次、住房使用权、母亲吸烟、母乳喂养和种族血统进行调整后，我们发现69个结果中有1个结果与假设的方向一致，即47个月时不良的亲社会行为与3个月时的暴露相关（优势比：1.12; 95%可信区间：1.01-1.23）与8个结果相比，仍然支持有益的效果。我们没有发现令人信服的证据表明早期暴露于硫柳汞对神经或心理结果有任何有害影响。
Objective. There is an established link between exposure to mercury and impaired childhood cognitive development and early motor skills. Thimerosal (also known as thiomersal), a preservative used in a number of children's vaccines, contains ethylmercury (an organic compound of mercury), and there has been concern that this exposure to mercury may be of some detriment to young children. The aim of this research was to test in a large United Kingdom population-based cohort whether there is any evidence to justify such concerns.Methods. We used population data from a longitudinal study on childhood health and development. The study has been monitoring >14000 children who are from the geographic area formerly known as Avon, United Kingdom, and were delivered in 1991-1992. The age at which doses of thimerosal-containing vaccines were administered was recorded, and measures of mercury exposure by 3, 4, and 6 months of age were calculated and compared with a number of measures of childhood cognitive and behavioral development covering the period from 6 to 91 months of age.Results. Contrary to expectation, it was common for the unadjusted results to suggest a beneficial effect of thimerosal exposure. For example, exposure at 3 months was inversely associated with hyperactivity and conduct problems at 47 months; motor development at 6 months and at 30 months; difficulties with sounds at 81 months; and speech therapy, special needs, and "statementing" at 91 months. After adjustment for birth weight, gestation, gender, maternal education, parity, housing tenure, maternal smoking, breastfeeding, and ethnic origins, we found 1 result of 69 to be in the direction hypothesized poor prosocial behavior at 47 months was associated with exposure by 3 months of age (odds ratio: 1.12; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.23) compared with 8 results that still supported a beneficial effect.Conclusions. We could find no convincing evidence that early exposure to thimerosal had any deleterious effect on neurologic or psychological outcome.