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A longitudinal study on urinary cadmium and renal tubular protein excretion of nickel–cadmium battery workers after cessation of cadmium exposure

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to predict the outcome of urinary cadmium (Cd) excretion and renal tubular function by analyzing their evolution through 10 years after Cd exposure ceased.

Methods

Forty-one female, non-smoking workers were recruited from the year 2004 to 2009 when being removed from a nickel–cadmium battery factory, and they were asked to provide morning urine samples on three consecutive days at enrollment and in every follow-up year until 2014. Urinary Cd and renal tubular function biomarkers including urinary β2-microglobulin (β2-m) and retinol-binding protein (RBP) concentrations were determined with the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, respectively.

Results

The medians of baseline Cd, β2-m and RBP concentrations at enrollment were 6.19, 105.38 and 71.84 μg/g creatinine, respectively. Urinary β2-m and RBP concentrations were both related to Cd concentrations over the years (β absolute-β2-m = 9.16, P = 0.008 and β absolute-RBP = 6.42, P < 0.001, respectively). Cd, β2-m and RBP concentrations in the follow-up years were all associated with their baseline concentrations (β absolute-Cd = 0.61, P < 0.001; β absolute-β2-m = 0.64, P < 0.001; and β absolute-RBP = 0.60, P < 0.001, respectively), and showed a decreasing tendency with the number of elapsed years relative to their baseline concentrations (β relative-Cd = −0.20, P = 0.010; β relative-β2-m = −17.19, P = 0.002; and β relative-RBP = −10.66, P < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusions

Urinary Cd might eventually decrease to the general population level, and Cd-related tubular function would improve under the baseline conditions of this cohort.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge colleagues from Guangdong Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases for their assistance with the laboratory examination. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number 81502797).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases, Buxin Rd. 2019, Luohu District, Shenzhen, 518020, China

    Yanhua Gao, Yanfang Zhang, Juan Yi, Jinpeng Zhou, Xianqing Huang, Xinshan Shi, Shunhua Xiao & Dafeng Lin

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  1. Yanhua Gao
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  2. Yanfang Zhang
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  3. Juan Yi
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  4. Jinpeng Zhou
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  7. Shunhua Xiao
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  8. Dafeng Lin
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Correspondence to Dafeng Lin.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of Shenzhen Prevention and Treatment Center for Occupational Diseases and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Gao, Y., Zhang, Y., Yi, J. et al. A longitudinal study on urinary cadmium and renal tubular protein excretion of nickel–cadmium battery workers after cessation of cadmium exposure. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 89, 1137–1145 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-016-1153-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-016-1153-3

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