Paper Title
Association Between Blood Merucry and Overweight For Korean Workers

Abstract
This study assessed the association of blood mercury levels with overweight in Korean manual workers. We analyzed cross-sectional data from 3,967 participants (2,292 men and 1,675 women) who completed the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), 2007�2013. We use the WHO overweight (including obesity) criteria using BMI≥23.0 kg/m2. Blood mercury levels were analyzed using a gold amalgam method with a DMA-80 instrument, categorized into quartiles, and stratified by sex. After adjusting for all covariates, blood mercury was significantly associated with overweight in a dose-dependent manner. The adjusted odds ratio of being in the highest blood mercury quartile was 2.06 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.69-2.50) overall, 2.42 (95% CI, 1.88�3.13) in men, and 1.86 (95% CI, 1.39�2.50) in women. Additionally, a trend in overweight across increasing blood mercury levels was observed by the p for trend test in the multiple diagnostic criteria. Keywords� Overweight, Weight gain, Korean manual workers, Heavy metals, Mercury.