Ethnic Kawasaki disease risk associated with blood mercury and cadmium in U.S. children

Deniz Yeter*, Michael A. Portman, Michael Aschner, Marcelo Farina, Wen Ching Chan, Kai Sheng Hsieh, Ho Chang Kuo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

Kawasaki disease (KD) primarily affects children <5 years of age (75%–80%) and is currently the leading cause of acquired heart disease in developed nations. Even when residing in the West, East Asian children are 10 to 20 times more likely to develop KD. We hypothesized cultural variations influencing pediatric mercury (Hg) exposure from seafood consumption may mediate ethnic KD risk among children in the United States. Hospitalization rates of KD in US children aged 0–4 years (n = 10,880) and blood Hg levels in US children aged 1–5 years (n = 713) were determined using separate US federal datasets. Our cohort primarily presented with blood Hg levels <0.1 micrograms (μg) per kg bodyweight (96.5%) that are considered normal and subtoxic. Increased ethnic KD risk was significantly associated with both increasing levels and detection rates of blood Hg or cadmium (Cd) in a linear dose-responsive manner between ethnic African, Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic children in the US (p ⩽ 0.05). Increasing low-dose exposure to Hg or Cd may induce KD or contribute to its later development in susceptible children. However, our preliminary results require further replication in other ethnic populations, in addition to more in-depth examination of metal exposure and toxicokinetics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number101
JournalInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume13
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 05 01 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • Allergy
  • Autoimmunity
  • Infantile acrodynia
  • Kawasaki disease
  • Mercury
  • Methylmercury
  • Pediatrics
  • Pollution
  • Seafood
  • Toxicology

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