Blood cadmium concentrations and risk of all-cause mortality among adults with chronic pruritic dermatoses: A prospective cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Cadmium (Cd) accumulates in the human body over time, posing significant health risks. This study focused on the relationship between blood Cd concentrations and all-cause mortality in adults suffering from chronic pruritic dermatoses (CPD). Data utilized in our study was collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the 2005–2006 cycle in the United States. To assess the hazard ratio (HR) for mortality, a weighted multivariable Cox regression analysis was conducted, considering age, sex, race, body mass index, waist circumference, hay fever, and allergy. The restricted cubic spline analyses were adopted to explore the dose-response association. Additionally, subgroup and sensitivity analyses were implemented to estimate the stability of the findings. In this study, 323 participants were collected from 10,348 individuals. Compared with the lowest quantile of blood Cd concentrations group, individuals in the highest quantile had an adjusted HR of 3.35 (95% CI: 1.46, 7.73) for all-cause mortality. The restricted cubic spline analyses of multivariate adjustment revealed a significant linear dose-response relationship between ln-transformed blood Cd concentrations (ranging from 0.46 to 3.96µg/g ) and the risk of all-cause mortality. In addition, no significant interactions were observed between strata variables and blood Cd (all Pinteraction > 0.05). Sensitivity analyses also yielded similar results to those obtained in our study. Cd exposure serves as a critical risk factor for all-cause mortality in adults suffering from CPD. Our data substantiate a linear relationship between blood Cd concentrations and mortality risk. These findings underscore the imperative for policy makers and the general public to mitigate Cd exposure, thereby reducing long-term adverse health outcomes.