Poor psychometric scores of children living in isolated riverine and agrarian communities and fish–methylmercury exposure

Because of heavy dependence on fish, Amazonian riparian communities are chronically exposed to high levels of methylmercury (MeHg). We studied fish–MeHg exposure (total hair-Hg, HHg) as a determinant of neurocognitive scores of children living in two geographically distant, culturally distinct and isolated poor communities of non-urban environments: Amazonian riverines (Riparians, n = 38) of the Puruzinho Lake community in the Rio Madeira Basin and rural agrarians from Iúna, Espírito Santo (Agrarians, n = 32). Nutritional status was estimated by anthropometry (Z-scores) and individual cognitive abilities were assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) and the Human Figure Drawings (HFD), both validated versions for Brazilian children. Anthropometric assessment showed slightly elevated Z-scores for the Agrarian children (not statistically significant) but median HHg concentrations were 14.4 and 0.25 μg g−1 respectively for Riparian and Agrarian children (p = 0.000). Despite paradoxical MeHg exposures, both groups showed comparable HFD scores but very poor performance in WISC-III test battery; median of sum of WISC-III subtests scores (ΣTOT) were 17.9 and 28.6 (p < 0.000) for Riparian and Agrarian children, respectively (percentage scale). Spearman correlation between nutritional status (attained growth) and psychometric scores were statistically significant between height-for-age Z-score and Object Assembly subtest (r = 0.269; p = 0.043), ΣTOT (r = 0.319; p = 0.016), Performance-IQ (r = 0.311; p = 0.019) and Perceptual Organization Index scores (r = 0.302; p = 0.023). In these isolated communities there are stronger determinants of neurocognitive poor performance than MeHg exposure. Global strategies for reducing human exposure to MeHg by curtailing fish consumption are unrealistic options for riverine subsistence populations and are not justifiable to prevent low cognitive scores.