Cadmium Exposure and Distal Forearm Fractures

Abstract

The mean urinary cadmium in the study population was 0.74 nmol cadmium/mmol creatinine (10% and 90% percentiles are 0.19 and 1.42, respectively). For fractures occurring after the age of 50 years (n = 558, 32 forearm fractures), the fracture hazard ratio, adjusted for gender and other relevant co-variates, increased by 18% (95% CI, 1.0-38%) per unit urinary cadmium (nmol cadmium/mmol creatinine). When subjects were grouped in exposure categories, the hazard ratio reached 3.5 (90% CI, 1.1, 11) in the group of subjects with urinary cadmium between 2 and 4 nmol/mmol creatinine and 8.8 (90% CI, 2.6, 30) in the group of subjects with > or = 4 nmol/mmol creatinine. Associations between cadmium and fracture risk were absent before the age of 50. Cadmium exposure is associated with increased risk of forearm fractures in people over 50 years of age.