Cadmium and lead exposure and risk of cataract surgery in U.S. adults

Details

• Personal Author:
  Park SK ; Schaumberg DA ; Wang W
• Description:
  Cataract is a major cause of visual dysfunction and the leading cause of blindness. Elevated levels of cadmium and lead have been found in the lenses of cataract patients, suggesting these metals may play a role in cataract risk. This study aimed to examine the associations of blood lead, blood cadmium and urinary cadmium with cataract risk. We identified 9763 individuals aged 50 years and older with blood lead and cadmium levels, and a randomly selected subgroup of 3175 individuals with available urinary cadmium levels, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) from 1999 to 2008 (mean age=63years). Participants were considered to have cataract if they self-reported prior cataract surgery in NHANES's vision examination. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using survey logistic regression models. We identified 1737 cataract surgery cases (the weighted prevalence=14.1%). With adjustment for age, race/ethnicity, gender, education, diabetes mellitus, body mass index, cigarette smoking (serum cotinine and pack-years) and urine hydration, every 2-fold increase in urinary cadmium was associated with a 23% higher risk of cataract surgery (OR=1.23, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.46, p=0.021). We found no associations of cataract surgery with blood cadmium (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.07) and blood lead (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.88, 1.06). Mediation analysis showed that for the smoking-cadmium-cataract pathway, the ratio of smoking's indirect effect to the total effect through cadmium was more than 50%. These results suggest that cumulative cadmium exposure may be an important under-recognized risk factor for cataract. However, these findings should be interpreted with a caution because of inconsistent results between urinary cadmium and blood cadmium. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Blood Cadmium Eye Hematologic Tests Lead Occupational Health Safety Sense Organs Smokers Urine Vision Disorders

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Cadmium Blood Samples Cataract Eye Disorders Eyes Eyesight Mediation Analysis NHANES Smoking Urinalysis Vision Disorders

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• ISSN:
  1438-4639
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; Michigan ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  219
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20048890
• Citation:
  Int J Hyg Environ Health 2016 Nov; 219(8):850-856
• Contact Point Address:
  Sung Kyun Park, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, SPH-II, M5541, Ann Arbor, MI,48109
• Email:
  sungkyun@umich.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Cadmium (CAS RN 7440-43-9) ; Lead (CAS RN 7439-92-1)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
• End Date:
  20280630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bdc7884b72a61ef3a7868dc4867da885856b70d90ae8bbaedbf511e73848e3cb0d709521e35ca8471284e8162806336affbc1a5e03a878eaaf3ace842470645f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203510/cdc_203510_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 649.77 KB ]