Environmental exposure to cadmium, forearm bone density, and risk of fractures: prospective population study. Public Health and Environmental Exposure to Cadmium (PheeCad) Study Group
- PMID: 10209978
- DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(98)09356-8
Environmental exposure to cadmium, forearm bone density, and risk of fractures: prospective population study. Public Health and Environmental Exposure to Cadmium (PheeCad) Study Group
Abstract
Background: Chronic low-level exposure to cadmium may promote calcium loss via urinary excretion. We undertook a prospective population study to investigate whether environmental exposure to cadmium lowers bone density and increases risk of fractures.
Methods: We measured urinary cadmium excretion, a biomarker of lifetime exposure, in people from ten districts of Belgium, of which six districts bordered on three zinc smelters. We also measured cadmium in soil and in vegetables from the districts, and collected data on incidence of fractures and height loss. Bone density was measured at the forearm just above the wrist by single photon absorptiometry, and calculated as the mean of six proximal and four distal scans.
Findings: Mean cadmium excretion at baseline was 8.7 nmol daily. Across the ten districts, mean cadmium concentration in soil ranged from 0.8 to 14.7 mg/kg, and from 0.1 to 4.0 mg/kg dry weight in vegetables. Median follow-up was 6.6 years. Mean forearm bone density in proximal and distal scans was 0.54 g/cm2 and 0.43 g/cm2 in men, and 0.44 g/cm2 and 0.34 g/cm2 in women. In postmenopausal women, a twofold increase in urinary cadmium correlated with 0.01 g/cm2 decrease in bone density (p<0.02). The relative risks associated with doubled urinary cadmium were 1.73 (95% CI 1.16-2.57; p=0.007) for fractures in women and 1.60 (0.94-2.72, p=0.08) for height loss in men. Cadmium excretion in districts near smelters was 22.8% higher (p=0.001) than in other districts, with fracture rates of 16.0 and 10.3 cases per 1000 person-years, respectively, and a population-attributable risk of 35.0%.
Interpretation: Even at a low degree of environmental exposure, cadmium may promote skeletal demineralisation, which may lead to increased bone fragility and raised risk of fractures.
Similar articles
-
Public health implications of environmental exposure to cadmium and lead: an overview of epidemiological studies in Belgium. Working Groups.J Cardiovasc Risk. 1996 Feb;3(1):26-41. J Cardiovasc Risk. 1996. PMID: 8783028 Review.
-
Environmental exposure to cadmium and risk of cancer: a prospective population-based study.Lancet Oncol. 2006 Feb;7(2):119-26. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(06)70545-9. Lancet Oncol. 2006. PMID: 16455475
-
Exposure to cadmium and conventional and ambulatory blood pressures in a prospective population study. Public Health and Environmental Exposure to Cadmium Study Group.Am J Hypertens. 2000 Feb;13(2):146-56. doi: 10.1016/s0895-7061(99)00187-9. Am J Hypertens. 2000. PMID: 10701814 Clinical Trial.
-
Renal function and historical environmental cadmium pollution from zinc smelters.Lancet. 1994 Jun 18;343(8912):1523-7. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)92936-x. Lancet. 1994. PMID: 7911869
-
Cadmium, osteoporosis and calcium metabolism.Biometals. 2004 Oct;17(5):493-8. doi: 10.1023/b:biom.0000045727.76054.f3. Biometals. 2004. PMID: 15688852 Review.
Cited by
-
Pollution and health risk assessments related to heavy metals on three prominent beaches in Makkah Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Concerning levels of cadmium pollution.PLoS One. 2024 Oct 21;19(10):e0311189. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311189. eCollection 2024. PLoS One. 2024. PMID: 39432527 Free PMC article.
-
Spatio-temporal distribution of cadmium levels in Chinese population and its potential risk factors.Heliyon. 2024 Mar 29;10(7):e28879. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28879. eCollection 2024 Apr 15. Heliyon. 2024. PMID: 38596075 Free PMC article.
-
[Research on Healthy Neighborhood Evaluation System Based on the Combined Perspectives of Urban Planning and Public Health].Feng Jing Yuan Lin. 2020;27(11):96-103. doi: 10.14085/j.fjyl.2020.11.0096.08. Feng Jing Yuan Lin. 2020. PMID: 38420146 Free PMC article. Chinese.
-
Transcriptomics combined with physiological analysis reveals the mechanism of cadmium uptake and tolerance in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. under cadmium treatment.Front Plant Sci. 2023 Sep 22;14:1263981. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1263981. eCollection 2023. Front Plant Sci. 2023. PMID: 37810396 Free PMC article.
-
Cadmium Toxicity and Health Effects-A Brief Summary.Molecules. 2023 Sep 14;28(18):6620. doi: 10.3390/molecules28186620. Molecules. 2023. PMID: 37764397 Free PMC article. Review.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical
