The Relationship between Blood Pressure and Environmental Exposure to Lead and Cadmium in Belgium

• Published in: Environmental health perspectives 1988-06, Vol.78, p.127-129
• Main Authors: Staessen, J., Bruaux, P., Claeys-Thoreau, F., DePlaen, P., Ducoffre, G., Lauwerys, R., Roels, H., Rondia, D., Sartor, F., Amery, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age; Belgium; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - drug effects; Body burden; Cadmium; Cadmium - pharmacology; Cadmium - urine; Child; Environmental Exposure; Environmental health; Environmental pollution; Female; Humans; Lead; Lead - pharmacology; Lead - urine; Male; Men; Middle Aged; Population growth; Symposium on Lead-Blood Pressure Relationships. April 27-29, 1987. Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• ISSN: 0091-6765; 1552-9924
• DOI: 10.1289/ehp.8878127

The question whether in the general population environmental exposure to lead and cadmium influences blood pressure after controlling for confounding factors remains debated. The environmental exposure of the Belgian population to both lead and cadmium is high as compared with other countries. The Cadmibel Cooperative Study was therefore designed to elucidate whether environmental exposure to lead and cadmium has any effect on blood pressure and renal function in the population at large. Before embarking on the large Cadmibel project, a small study was conducted. Blood pressure and the 24-hr urinary excretion of cadmium (CdU) and lead (PbU) were determined in a random 4% sample of the population of a small Belgian town. CdU averaged 0.27 μg/24 hr in 46 youths (mean age 14 ± 3 years, ± SD), increased with age, and was higher in 57 adult men (age 41 ± 14 years), as compared with 59 adult women (age 39 ± 14 years) (1.05 vs. 0.81 μg/24 hr; p < 0.01). PbU averaged 5.8 μg/24 hr in youths and similarly increased with age; adult men excreted more lead than women (13.3 vs. 8.3 μg/24 hr; p < 0.001). Among men, manual workers excreted more cadmium (1.4 vs. 0.8 μg/24 hr; p < 0.05) but a similar amount of lead (7.0 vs. 6.9 μg/24 hr) as compared with office workers. In simple regression analysis, CdU was positively correlated with both systolic (r = 0.30; p < 0.05) and diastolic (r = 0.38; p < 0.01) blood pressure in women. After adjusting for other contributing variables, however, a weak but negative relationship became apparent between systolic pressure and CdU in women (p = 0.033) and between diastolic pressure and CdU in men (p = 0.047). In none of the sex-age groups did PbU contribute to the blood pressure variability.