Exposure to toxic metals tied to atherosclerosis risk: Study
Spain: A recent study has reported that exposure to toxic metals, including cadmium and titanium, arsenic among employees at a car assembly plant is related to subclinical level of atherosclerosis. The risk was found to be greatest among older employees, men and those who smoked at any time during their life. The study appears in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
The results supported cadmium and arsenic and identified titanium and potentially antimony as risk factors for atherosclerosis. In individuals without clinical disease, exposure reduction and mitigation interventions of these metals may reduce cardiovascular risk.
Previous studies that have evaluated the association of metals with subclinical atherosclerosis are limited mostly to carotid arteries, Maria Tellez-Plaza, Department of Preventive Medicine and Microbiology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, and colleagues therefore aimed to assess individual and joint associations of nonessential metals exposure with subclinical atherosclerosis in 3 vascular territories.
The study included one thousand eight hundred seventy-three participants from the Aragon Workers Health Study. They had urinary determinations of inorganic arsenic species, barium, cadmium, chromium, antimony, titanium, uranium, vanadium, and tungsten. The presence of plaque in carotid and femoral arteries was determined by ultrasound. Coronary Agatston calcium score ≥1 was determined by computed tomography scan.
Based on the study, the researchers found the following:
- Median arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, antimony, titanium, uranium, vanadium, and tungsten levels were 1.83, 1.98, 0.27, 1.18, 0.05, 9.8, 0.03, 0.66, and 0.23 μg/g creatinine, respectively.
- The adjusted odds ratio for subclinical atherosclerosis presence in at least one territory was 1.25 for arsenic, 1.67 for cadmium, and 1.26 for titanium.
- These associations were driven by arsenic and cadmium in carotid, cadmium and titanium in femoral, and titanium in coronary territories and mostly remained after additional adjustment for the other relevant metals.
- Titanium, cadmium, and antimony also showed positive associations with alternative definitions of increased coronary calcium.
- Bayesian Kernel Machine Regression analysis simultaneously evaluating metal associations suggested an interaction between arsenic and the joint cadmium-titanium exposure.
"Our results support arsenic and cadmium and identify titanium and potentially antimony as atherosclerosis risk factors," wrote the authors. "Exposure reduction and mitigation interventions of these metals may decrease cardiovascular risk in individuals without clinical disease."
Reference:
The study titled, "Toxic Metals and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Carotid, Femoral, and Coronary Vascular Territories: The Aragon Workers Health Study," was published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
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