School of Food Safety, College of Nutrition, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Xing Street, Taipei, 11031, Taiwan.
Research Center of Food Safety Inspection and Function Development, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Jul;29(35):52655-52664. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19521-3. Epub 2022 Mar 10.
Exposure to a single metal has been reported to damage renal function in humans. However, information regarding the association between multiple-metal exposure and markers for early renal impairment in different sexes among the young adult Taiwanese population is scarce. We assessed the association between exposure to arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb), and early renal impairment markers using urinary microalbumin (MA), β2-microglobulin (β2MG), and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) by analyzing 157 young adults aged 20‒29 years, in Taiwan. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to determine urinary As, Cd, and Pb levels. Regression models were applied to different sex groups. The results showed that after adjusting for potential confounding factors and each metal, urinary Cd levels were significantly positively associated with urinary MA (β = 0.523, 95% CI: 0.147-0.899) and β2MG (β = 1.502, 95% CI: 0.635-2.370) in males. However, the urinary Cd level was significantly positively associated with only urinary NAG (β = 0.161, 95% CI: 0.027-0.296) in females. This study thus indicates that the effect of exposure to metals (especially Cd) on early renal impairment among young adults in Taiwan is sex-specific. Our study results could contribute toward developing early intervention programs for decreasing the incidence of renal dysfunction. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings and clarify the potential mechanisms involved.
据报道，单一金属暴露会损害人类的肾功能。然而，关于在年轻的台湾人群中，多种金属暴露与早期肾功能损害标志物之间的关系，不同性别之间的信息却很少。我们评估了 157 名年龄在 20-29 岁的台湾年轻人尿液微量白蛋白（MA）、β2-微球蛋白（β2MG）和 N-乙酰-β-D-氨基葡萄糖苷酶（NAG）等早期肾损伤标志物与砷（As）、镉（Cd）和铅（Pb）暴露之间的关系。采用电感耦合等离子体质谱法测定尿液中的 As、Cd 和 Pb 水平。应用回归模型分析不同性别组。结果表明，在调整了潜在混杂因素和每种金属后，男性尿液 Cd 水平与尿液 MA（β=0.523，95%CI：0.147-0.899）和β2MG（β=1.502，95%CI：0.635-2.370）呈显著正相关。然而，女性尿液 Cd 水平仅与尿液 NAG（β=0.161，95%CI：0.027-0.296）呈显著正相关。因此，本研究表明，金属（尤其是 Cd）暴露对台湾年轻成年人早期肾功能损害的影响具有性别特异性。我们的研究结果有助于制定早期干预计划，以降低肾功能障碍的发生率。需要进一步的研究来证实我们的发现并阐明潜在的机制。
