| Sumario: |
Manganese (Mn), an essential nutrient, is a neurotoxicant at high concentrations. We measured Mn concentrations in
repeated blood and hair samples collected from 449 pregnant women
living near banana plantations with extensive aerial spraying of Mncontaining fungicide mancozeb in Costa Rica, and examined
environmental and lifestyle factors associated with these biomarkers.
Mean blood Mn and geometric mean hair Mn concentrations were
24.4 μg/L (8.9−56.3) and 1.8 μg/g (0.05−53.3), respectively. Blood
Mn concentrations were positively associated with gestational age at
sampling (β = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.2), number of household members
(β = 0.4; 95% CI: 0.1 to 0.6), and living in a house made of permeable
and difficult-to-clean materials (β = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.3 to 4.0); and
inversely related to smoking (β = −3.1; 95% CI: −5.8 to −0.3). Hair
Mn concentrations were inversely associated with gestational age at
sampling (% change = 0.8; 95% CI: −1.6 to 0.0); and positively associated with living within 50 m of a plantation (% change =
42.1; 95% CI: 14.2 to 76.9) and Mn concentrations in drinking water (% change = 17.5; 95% CI: 12.2 to 22.8). Our findings
suggest that pregnant women living near banana plantations aerially sprayed with mancozeb may be environmentally exposed to
Mn.
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