Blood cadmium level as affected by hypertension, smoking, occupation, and body mass.

Cadmium can induce persistent hypertension in rats, yet, studies involving humans have been limited by the lack of controlling for confounding variables. The purpose of this study was to determine which lifestyle, health, and other factors are significantly related to predicting blood cadmium level. Thirty-two black female hypertensives 50-75 years of age were selected for comparison with 30 normotensives. Questionnaires were used to gather data on health and other factors. Blood cadmium levels were determined from venous blood samples using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Smoking status, blood pressure status, and body mass were the only variables significantly related (P less than .05) to blood cadmium level. In the future, studies involving a larger sample size could further clarify a possible relationship between blood cadmium level and hypertension.