A case–control study of the association between urinary cadmium concentration and endometriosis in infertile Japanese women

Hiroaki Itoh, Iwasaki M, Motoki Iwasaki, Nakajima Y, Yoshiaki Nakajima, Endo Y, Yoko Endo, Hanaoka T, Tomoyuki Hanaoka, Sasaki H, Hiroshi Sasaki, Tanaka T, Tadao Tanaka, Yang B, Bin Yang, Tsugane S, Shoichiro Tsugane
The Science of the total environment · 2008 · vol. 402(2-3) , pp. 171–175 · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.05.006 · PMID:18558423 · W2019928700
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This case-control study found no association between urinary cadmium concentration and the risk of endometriosis in infertile Japanese women.

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Abstract

Cadmium may act like an estrogen and be a potential risk factor for estrogen-related diseases such as breast cancer and endometriosis. Here, we tested the hypothesis that higher cadmium exposure is associated with endometriosis among infertile Japanese women in a hospital-based case-control study. We recruited consecutive female patients aged 20-45 years who had complained of infertility and presented to a university hospital in Tokyo. The subjects were interviewed and provided a urine sample prior to a laparoscopic diagnosis of endometriosis between January 2000 and December 2001. The severity of endometriosis was then dichotomized into controls (stage 0 and I) and cases (stage II-IV). We finally measured urinary total cadmium concentration in 54 cases and 74 controls as a biomarker of long-term cumulative exposure. Odds ratios were adjusted for average menstrual cycle length, body-mass index and smoking status using unconditional logistic regression. Results showed no association between endometriosis and urinary cadmium concentration. Medians (interquartile ranges) of urinary cadmium concentration in cases and controls were 0.53 (0.40-0.73) and 0.54 (0.34-0.76) microg/g creatinine, respectively (P for difference=0.88). Adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for the highest versus lowest tertile of urinary creatinine-adjusted cadmium concentration was 0.86 (0.30 to 2.49, P for trend=0.79). Our results do not support the hypothesis that higher urinary cadmium concentration is associated with the risk of endometriosis.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Cadmium Endometriosis Infertility, Female Adult Body Mass Index Cadmium Case-Control Studies Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Japan Menstruation Middle Aged Risk Factors Sensitivity and Specificity Smoking

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