The correlation between blood and urine level of cadmium and nasal and paranasal sinuses disorders.

Over exposure to cadmium may produce numerous adverse health effects, including changes in the nasal mucosa. Cadmium levels were measured in blood and urine samples taken from 106 workers who were exposed to high levels of cadmium and nickel in a cadmium nickel battery plant. Pathological results were observed in 46% and 51% of the blood and urine samples respectively. A positive association was found between clinical nasal complaints and pathological levels of cadmium in blood (P = 0.006) and urine (P = 0.045) samples. All the workers underwent sinus X-rays and 63% of them were abnormal. No correlation was found between pathological sinus X-rays and pathological cadmium level in blood and urine samples. A positive correlation was found between clinical nasal complaints and abnormal sinus X-rays. The prevalence of sinus X-ray abnormalities in an asymptomatic general population is 33% as compared to 63% in our study. This difference is highly significant statistically (P < 0.0001). Our result shows a possible harmful effect of cadmium on the paranasal sinuses.