Poster: Sources of cadmium exposure in an Italian population: A cross-sectional study
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 25 June 2015 12:02
Background and Aims
Main sources of Cadmium (Cd) exposure in the human are food and cigarette smoking as, but also outdoor and indoor air pollution can be important, mainly from industrial emissions, fossil fuel combustion and solid waste incineration. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of outdoor air pollution on serum Cd levels in fifty residents randomly selected from the municipal population of Modena, Northern Italy.
Methods
We geocoded the current residence of these subjects and modeled their outdoor ambient air concentration of particulate matter ≤10µm (PM10), with the CAlifornia LINE Source Dispersion Model version 4 (CALINE-4), as a proxy of environmental air Cd. Information on smoking habits and Cd dietary intake were also collected, to assess these two additional sources of exposure. We used both crude and multivariate linear regression models to determine the influence of outdoor PM10 levels, smoking and dietary Cd intake on serum Cd.
Results
Median values (25th–75th) for serum and dietary Cd were 40.85 ng/l (30.05 – 53.50) and 13.36 µg/die (10.45 – 16.63). Crude β-coefficientswere 0.617 (95% CI -0.194 – 1.428, P=0.133), 0.026 (-0.827 – 0.829, P=0.952) and 6.962 (-0.022 – 13.945, P=0.051) for PM10, diet and smoking, respectively. Corresponding adjusted values were 0.463 (-0.365 – 1.292, P=0.266), -0.036 (-0.866 – 0.793, P=0.930) and 6.057 (-1.175 – 13.289, P=0.099), respectively.
Conclusions
In our population, the most important factor influencing Cd serum content thus appears to be cigarette smoking, followed by outdoor air pollution and lastly by diet.
