Changes in Urinary Excretions of Cadmium, Copper, and Zinc in Japanese Workers

Abstract

The authors undertook this study to determine changes in the daily concentration of cadmium, copper, and zinc in Japanese workers' urine over a 13-year period from 1985 to 1998. The workers were aged between 20 and 59 years. The authors studied 277 subjects in 1985, 320 in 1993, and 292 in 1998, for a total of 889 (464 men and 425 women). Although. in both men and women, urinary excretions of cadmium and copper were lower in 1993 and 1998 than in 1985, they were not substantially lower in 1998 than in 1993. The authors observed no marked changes between 1985, 1993, and 1998 regarding the excretion of zinc in any of the age groups in either men or women. Furthermore, the excretion of urinary cadmium in 1998 still exceeded the tolerable limit levels in the general population of the investigated region in Japan. This fact suggests the necessity of further nationwide investigation and comprehensive measures to reduce cadmium exposure in Japanese society.

Quantifying cobalt in doping control urine samples – a pilot study

“…In both groups, a strong correlation of urinary cobalt and cadmium concentrations was observed, suggesting the use of cadmium as a potential normalization factor if found within normal urinary reference ranges [26] ; however, the known impact of environment, diet, geographic origin, gender, age, etc., on urinary Cd values might need further consideration and research. [27,28] In the herein studied reference Groups A and B, the computed Co/Cd ratios resulted in similar box plots (Figure 1b) as produced for the absolute log-transformed concentrations measured for cobalt, exhibiting the same statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) with endurance sport athletes (Group B) demonstrating higher values than recreational sportsmen (Group A).…”

Individual Susceptibility to Cadmium Toxicity and Metallothionein Gene Polymorphisms: with References to Current Status of Occupational Cadmium Exposure

“…Actually, Friis et al found that the cadmium concentrations in the kidney cortex of Swedish individuals aged <40 yr was about 40% of that in 1976 1) , and they suggested that reduced cadmium contamination from industries and changes in dietary habits were responsible, because the reduction was similar between smokers and nonsmokers 1) . However, based on observations of urinary cadmium excretion by 889 Japanese workers in Toyama prefecture, Miyamoto et al reported that concentrations of the excretion of urinary cadmium in both men and women between 1993 and 1998 were lower than in 1985, although no significant differences were found between 1998 and 1993; levels in 1998 still exceeded the tolerable limit levels in Japan (2 to 3 µg/d) 2,3) . Further, Yassin et 1 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 6-21-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki 214-8585, Japan obtained from 11,228 workers in USA from [1988][1989][1990][1991][1992][1993][1994], and metal industry workers showed higher cadmium levels than agricultural workers 4) .…”