Association of urinary cadmium and myocardial infarction.

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of individuals 45-79 years old in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (1988-1994) (NHANES III). Myocardial infarction was determined by electrocardiogram (ECG). Our sample included 4912 participants, which when weighted represented 52,234,055 Americans. We performed adjusted logistic regressions with the Framingham risk score, pack-years of smoking, race-ethnicity, and family history of heart attack, and diabetes as covariates. Urinary cadmium >or= 0.88 microg/g creatinine had an odds ratio of 1.86 (95% CI 1.26-2.75) compared to urinary cadmium <0.43 microg/g creatinine. This result supports the hypothesis that cadmium is associated with coronary heart disease. When logistic regressions were done by gender, women, but not men, showed a significant association of urinary cadmium with myocardial infarction. Women with urinary cadmium >or= 0.88 microg/g creatinine had an odds ratio of 1.80 (95% CI 1.06-3.04) compared to urinary cadmium <0.43 microg/g creatinine. When the analysis was restricted to never smokers (N=2187) urinary cadmium >or= 0.88 microg/g creatinine had an odds ratio of 1.85 (95% CI 1.10-3.14) compared to urinary cadmium <0.43 microg/g creatinine.