Relationship between urinary cadmium and mortality among inhabitants living in a cadmium polluted area in Japan

A 15 year follow-up study of 3119 inhabitants living in a cadmium polluted area was conducted to investigate the influence of environmental cadmium ex posure on the mortality. The cumulative survival curves of the subjects wit h urinary cadmium concentration greater than or equal to 10 mu g/g creatini ne was lower than that of the subjects with < 10 mu g/g creatinine in the m en aged 50-59 and 60-69 years and in the women aged 60-69 and 70-79 years. In the men aged 50-69 years and the all aged women, the cumulative survival curves became lower in proportion to the increase of urinary cadmium conce ntration, when the subjects were divided into four groups according to the amount of urinary cadmium concentration (< 5, 5-9.9, 10.1-19.9, 220 mu g/g creatinine). These results suggested a dose response relationship between c admium exposure and mortality. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All r ights reserved.