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Temporal variability of urinary cadmium in spot urine samples and first morning voids

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 27, pages 306–312 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cadmium is a carcinogenic heavy metal. Urinary levels of cadmium are considered to be an indicator of long-term body burden, as cadmium accumulates in the kidneys and has a half-life of at least 10 years. However, the temporal stability of the biomarker in urine samples from a non-occupationally exposed population has not been rigorously established. We used repeated measurements of urinary cadmium (U-Cd) in spot urine samples and first morning voids from two separate cohorts, to assess the temporal stability of the samples. Urine samples from two cohorts including individuals of both sexes were measured for cadmium and creatinine. The first cohort (Home Observation of Perinatal Exposure (HOPE)) consisted of 21 never-smokers, who provided four first morning urine samples 2–5 days apart, and one additional sample roughly 1 month later. The second cohort (World Trade Center-Health Program (WTC-HP)) consisted of 78 individuals, including 52 never-smokers, 22 former smokers and 4 current smokers, who provided 2 spot urine samples 6 months apart, on average. Intra-class correlation was computed for groups of replicates from each individual to assess temporal variability. The median creatinine-adjusted U-Cd level (0.19 and 0.21 μg/g in the HOPE and WTC-HP, respectively) was similar to levels recorded in the United States by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The intra-class correlation (ICC) was high (0.76 and 0.78 for HOPE and WTC-HP, respectively) and similar between cohorts, irrespective of whether samples were collected days or months apart. Both single spot or first morning urine cadmium samples show good to excellent reproducibility in low-exposure populations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Sonia I. Fore, Amanda Mancuso, and Ashlee McGlone for the excellent support in obtaining the cohort samples, and Erin Emanuele, Erin Healy, Kimberly Koon, Danielle Kruse, Rebecca Monastero, and Krishna Satish for their help with data entry and database maintenance. This work was supported by NIH Grant Numbers R01ES019209 and R01ES020488-01. There was no input from the funding bodies on the content of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family, Program in Public Health, Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Caterina Vacchi-Suzzi & Jaymie R Meliker

  2. Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84108, Utah, USA

    Christina A Porucznik & Kyley J Cox

  3. Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Yuan Zhao & Hongshik Ahn

  4. Analytical Sciences Department, Innovation, Technology and Development, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, 27709, North Carolina, USA

    James M Harrington & Keith E Levine

  5. Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Bruce Demple

  6. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth Medical School, 03755, New Hampshire, USA

    Carmen J Marsit

  7. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth Medical School, 03755, New Hampshire, USA

    Carmen J Marsit

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Adam Gonzalez

  9. Department of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, 11794, New York, USA

    Benjamin Luft

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  1. Caterina Vacchi-Suzzi
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Correspondence to Caterina Vacchi-Suzzi.

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Vacchi-Suzzi, C., Porucznik, C., Cox, K. et al. Temporal variability of urinary cadmium in spot urine samples and first morning voids. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 27, 306–312 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2016.28

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