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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
Biochemical Measurement of Neonatal Hypoxia
Published on: August 24, 2011
Assessing a New Method for Measuring Fetal Exposure to Mercury: Newborn Bloodspots
Jessica W Nelson1, Betsy L Edhlund2, Jean Johnson3
1Environmental Tracking and Biomonitoring Program, Minnesota Department of Health, St. Paul, MN 55164, USA. jessica.nelson@state.mn.us.
Background:
Measuring mercury in newborn bloodspots to determine fetal exposures is a novel methodology with many advantages. Questions remain, however, about its reliability as an estimate of newborn exposure to mercury.
Methods:
We studied mercury concentrations in paired bloodspots and cord blood from a convenience sample of 48 Minnesota women and infants.
Results:
The limit of detection for bloodspots was higher than for cord blood (0.7 and 0.3 μg/L in bloodspots and cord blood, respectively) with the result that mercury was detected in only 38% of newborn bloodspots compared to 62% of cord blood samples. The geometric mean mercury concentration in cord blood was 0.6 μg/L. Mercury concentrations were almost uniformly lower in bloodspots than in cord blood (mean ratio (±SD) = 0.85 ± 0.4), their mean value was significantly less than that for the cord blood (p = 0.02), and the two methods were highly correlated (r = 0.82).
Conclusion:
These preliminary findings indicate that newborn bloodspot mercury measurements have utility; however, until bloodspot analyses are more sensitive, they are likely to underestimate in utero exposure.
