Environmental Health Research Division, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Environment, Incheon 22689, Korea.
BK21 FOUR R & E Center for Learning Health System, Department of Health and Environmental Science, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 8;19(6):3181. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063181.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death in Korea. Dyslipidemia, characterized by the presence of abnormal lipid levels, has been suggested as an early diagnostic and preventable factor for CVD. Recent studies have shown that exposure to lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and mercury (Hg) affects lipid metabolism. This study aimed to verify the association between heavy metal concentrations and serum lipid profiles in the general population. A representative sample of 2591 Korean adults from the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (2015−2017) was analyzed. The associations between heavy metals [Blood Pb (BPb), blood Hg (BHg), urinary Hg (UHg), urinary Cd (UCd)] and serum lipid profiles [total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), non-low level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (Non-HDL-C)] were assessed using regression analysis. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, the proportional changes in serum lipid levels were significantly associated with increases in BPb, BHg, and UHg levels (p for trend < 0.05). Overall, BPb, BHg, and Uhg levels positively correlated with dyslipidemia, whereas UCd levels did not show a significant association. Our results suggest that heavy metal exposure, at low levels, may contribute to an increased prevalence of dyslipidemia in Korean adults.
心血管疾病（CVD）是韩国的主要死亡原因。血脂异常是一种特征为异常脂质水平的疾病，被认为是 CVD 的早期诊断和可预防因素。最近的研究表明，暴露于铅（Pb）、镉（Cd）和汞（Hg）会影响脂质代谢。本研究旨在验证一般人群中重金属浓度与血清脂质谱之间的关联。对韩国国家环境健康调查（2015-2017 年）中的 2591 名韩国成年人的代表性样本进行了分析。使用回归分析评估了重金属[血铅（BPb）、血汞（BHg）、尿汞（UHg）、尿镉（UCd）]与血清脂质谱[总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C）、非低水平高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（Non-HDL-C）]之间的关联。在调整了人口统计学和社会经济因素后，血清脂质水平的比例变化与 BPb、BHg 和 UHg 水平的升高呈显著相关（趋势 p<0.05）。总体而言，BPb、BHg 和 UHg 水平与血脂异常呈正相关，而 UCd 水平与血脂异常无显著关联。我们的结果表明，重金属暴露即使处于低水平，也可能导致韩国成年人血脂异常的患病率增加。
