Cadmium exposure and incidence of diabetes mellitus--results from the Malmö Diet and Cancer study.

BACKGROUND

Cadmium is a pollutant with multiple adverse health effects: renal dysfunction, osteoporosis and fractures, cancer, and probably cardiovascular disease. Some studies have reported associations between cadmium and impaired fasting glucose and diabetes. However, this relationship is controversial and there is a lack of longitudinal studies.

OBJECTIVES

To examine prospectively whether cadmium in blood is associated with incidence of diabetes mellitus.

METHODS

The study population consists of 4585 subjects without history of diabetes (aged 46 to 67 years, 60% women), who participated in the Malmö Diet and Cancer study during 1991-1994. Blood cadmium levels were estimated from hematocrit and cadmium concentrations in erythrocytes. Incident cases of diabetes were identified from national and local diabetes registers.

RESULTS

Cadmium concentrations in blood were not associated with blood glucose and insulin levels at the baseline examination. However, cadmium was positively associated with HbA1c in former smokers and current smokers. During a mean follow-up of 15.2 ± 4.2 years, 622 (299 men and 323 women) were diagnosed with new-onset of diabetes. The incidence of diabetes was not significantly associated with blood cadmium level at baseline, neither in men or women. The hazard ratio (4th vs 1st quartile) was 1.11 (95% confidence interval 0.82-1.49), when adjusted for potential confounders.

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated blood cadmium levels are not associated with increased incidence of diabetes. The positive association between HbA1c and blood cadmium levels has a likely explanation in mechanisms related to erythrocyte turnover and smoking.