Blood cadmium in healthy subjects and in patients with cardiovascular diseases

Blood cadmium concentration was determined in 90 healthy subjects and in 255 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and/or hypertension. Blood cadmium was higher in 68 healthy inhabitants of the industrial city of Lódź (0.75 +/- 0.41 micrograms %) than in 22 healthy rural inhabitants (0.38 +/- 0.35). All patients with cardiovascular diseases lived in Lódź. Blood cadmium in patients with CHD without risk factors was 0.92 +/- 0.39 micrograms %, in patients with CHD plus hyperlipidaemia 0.93 +/- 0.38, in patients with hypertension 0.98 +/- 0.46 and with CHD plus hypertension 1.01 +/- 0.46 micrograms %. The highest blood cadmium level was observed in smokers with CHD plus hypertension (1.13 +/- 0.42). The patients with renal and/or heart failure had a low blood cadmium level. This was probably due to proteinuria and a loss of cadmothionein in urine. In each tested group, smokers had a higher blood cadmium level than non-smokers.