TY - JOUR
T1 - Blood and urine cadmium concentrations and walking speed in middle-aged and older U.S. adults
AU - Kim, Junghoon
AU - Garcia-Esquinas, Esther
AU - Navas-Acien, Ana
AU - Choi, Yoon Hyeong
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea Ministry of Education (grant number 2013R1A6A3A04059556 ) and the Korea Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (grant number 2015R1C1A2A01054768 ).
Funding Information:
This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea Ministry of Education (grant number 2013R1A6A3A04059556) and the Korea Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (grant number 2015R1C1A2A01054768).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/1
Y1 - 2018/1
N2 - Reduced physical performance is an important feature of aging, and walking speed is a valid measure of physical performance and mobility in older adults. Previous epidemiological studies suggest that cadmium exposure, even at low environmental levels, may contribute to vascular, musculoskeletal, and cognitive dysfunction, which may all be associated with reductions in physical performance. To this end, we investigated the associations of blood and urine cadmium concentrations with walking speed in middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. general population. We studied U.S. adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2002 who were ≥50 years of age, who had determinations of cadmium in blood or in urine, and who had measurements of the time taken to walk 20 feet. Walking speed (ft/sec) was computed as walked distance (20 ft) divided by measured time to walk (in seconds). The weighted geometric means of blood and urine cadmium were 0.49 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47, 0.52] μg/L and 0.37 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.42) ng/mL, respectively. After adjusting for sociodemographic, anthropometric, health-related behavioral, and clinical risk factors and inflammation markers, the highest (vs. lowest) quintile of blood cadmium was associated with a 0.18 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.25) ft/sec reduction in walking speed (p-Trend <0.001). No association was observed for urine cadmium levels with walking speed. Cadmium concentrations in blood, but not in urine, were associated with slower gait speed. Our findings add to the growing volume of evidence supporting cadmium's toxicity even at low levels of exposure.
AB - Reduced physical performance is an important feature of aging, and walking speed is a valid measure of physical performance and mobility in older adults. Previous epidemiological studies suggest that cadmium exposure, even at low environmental levels, may contribute to vascular, musculoskeletal, and cognitive dysfunction, which may all be associated with reductions in physical performance. To this end, we investigated the associations of blood and urine cadmium concentrations with walking speed in middle-aged and older adults in the U.S. general population. We studied U.S. adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999 to 2002 who were ≥50 years of age, who had determinations of cadmium in blood or in urine, and who had measurements of the time taken to walk 20 feet. Walking speed (ft/sec) was computed as walked distance (20 ft) divided by measured time to walk (in seconds). The weighted geometric means of blood and urine cadmium were 0.49 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.47, 0.52] μg/L and 0.37 (95% CI: 0.34, 0.42) ng/mL, respectively. After adjusting for sociodemographic, anthropometric, health-related behavioral, and clinical risk factors and inflammation markers, the highest (vs. lowest) quintile of blood cadmium was associated with a 0.18 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.25) ft/sec reduction in walking speed (p-Trend <0.001). No association was observed for urine cadmium levels with walking speed. Cadmium concentrations in blood, but not in urine, were associated with slower gait speed. Our findings add to the growing volume of evidence supporting cadmium's toxicity even at low levels of exposure.
KW - Cadmium exposure
KW - Environmental exposure
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Physical function
KW - Walking speed
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U2 - 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.09.022
DO - 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.09.022
M3 - Article
C2 - 28941716
AN - SCOPUS:85029655118
SN - 0269-7491
VL - 232
SP - 97
EP - 104
JO - Environmental Pollution
JF - Environmental Pollution
ER -