Blood cadmium levels and Alzheimer’s disease mortality risk in older US adults

Abstract

BackgroundCadmium, a ubiquitous environmental pollutant, exhibits potential neurotoxic risk. Although compelling evidence suggests cadmium accumulation has a role in the formation of amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, the supporting evidence in humans is limited and conflicting. In this study, we investigated the association between blood cadmium levels and AD mortality among older adults by analyzing the prospective data from the 1999–2004 Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and the Linked Mortality File.MethodsThe data were obtained from the 1999–2004 NHANES and the NHANES (1999–2004) Linked Mortality File. A total of 4,064 participants aged ≥60 years old with available blood cadmium data and no other missing information on their questionnaires at baseline were included in this study. AD was denoted as G30 based on the ICD-10 underlying causes of death.ResultsOf the 4,064 participants, 51 subjects died as a result of AD. Compared with participants with low blood cadmium levels (≤0.3 μg/L), those with high cadmium levels (>0.6 μg/L) exhibited a 3.83-fold (hazard ratio = 3.83; 95 % CI = 1.39–10.59) increased risk of AD mortality. In the Kaplan–Meier survival curves for cumulative AD mortality, higher levels of blood cadmium showed marginally significant association with increased mortality at baseline and in patients over 60 years of age (p = 0.0684).ConclusionsWe observed a significant association between blood cadmium levels and AD mortality among older adults in the US. Our findings suggest that environmental exposure to cadmium may be a risk factor for AD.

Circulatory Levels of Toxic Metals (Aluminum, Cadmium, Mercury, Lead) in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease: A Quantitative Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

“…Jiang et al reported the impact of Cd on the formation of neurofibrillary tangles [52]. Increased blood Cd levels were associated with elevated AD mortality among participants aged 60 years or older in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (1999-2004 cycles) [53]. Similarly, Peng et al showed that urinary Cd was associated with elevated risk of AD mortality among older adults [54].…”

Kidney Cadmium Toxicity, Diabetes and High Blood Pressure: The Perfect Storm

“…Chronic, low-level Cd exposure in Sweden has been linked to an increased risk of heart failure (Borne et al 2015), while chronic, low-level Cd exposure in the U.S. been linked to death from CVD, heart disease, and coronary heart disease (Tellez-Plaza et al 2012) along with increased death from all causes (Hyder et al 2013;Patel et al 2013), cancer (Adams et al 2012;Lin et al 2014), and Alzheimer's disease (Min and Min 2016).…”

“…An increase in risk of heart failure was seen among those with blood levels in the 4 th quartile (HR 1.95, 95% CI 1.02-3.71) after adjustment for age and conventional risk factors and biomarkers. In a follow-up of 4,060 participants in the NHANES 1999(Min and Min 2016, blood Cd levels > 0.6 µg/L were associated with death from Alzheimer's disease (HR 3.83, 95% CI 1.39-10.59). Table 3 provides a summary of studies that quantify oxidative stress and inflammation in relationship to Cd exposure.…”

Resveratrol protects against cadmium chloride‐induced hippocampal neurotoxicity by inhibiting ER stress and GAAD 153 and activating sirtuin 1/AMPK/Akt

“…During the last recent decades, the concern about the adverse effects of cadmium (Cd 2+ ) ions on memory function and neural apoptosis has been increased worldwide . Cadmium is one of the most widely distributed heavy metals on the earth crust that is abundantly found in drinking water, food, industrial compounds, and smoking and has a long biological life within contminated tissues (up to 30 years) .…”