Table 2.
Highest and lowest cadmium level quintiles by age, education, smoking status and season of blood draw in the highest and lowest exposure categories in three studies with prospective blood collection
| Variable | Cancer Prevention Study-II Lifelink (CPS-II) | European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition - Italy (EPIC-Italy) | Northern Sweden Health and Disease Study (NSHDS) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadmium Levels (μg/L) | p-value | Cadmium Levels (μg/L) | p-value | Cadmium Levels (μg/L) | p-value | ||||
| 0–0.49 | 2.00 + | 0–0.49 | 2.00 + | 0–0.49 | 2.00 + | ||||
| Age at blood draw, mean (SD) | 67.8 (5.72) | 68.8 (5.33) | 0.008 | 51.36 (8.15) | 50.62 (7.40) | 0.25 | 52.24 (7.71) | 51.54 (7.68) | 0.79 |
| Education, N (%) | |||||||||
| Primary | 6 (0.9) | 0 (0) | 0.84 | 80 (49.1) | 24 (47.1) | 0.98 | 77 (28.4) | 24 (32.4) | 0.03 |
| Technical/ professional | 32 (5) | 1 (4.3) | 19 (11.7) | 6 (11.8) | 68 (25.1) | 20 (27.0) | |||
| Secondary | 194 (30.1) | 7 (30.4) | 39 (23.9) | 10 (19.6) | 49 (18.1) | 14 (18.9) | |||
| University/ college | 408 (63.4) | 15 (65.2) | 24 (14.7) | 11 (21.6) | 71 (26.2) | 15 (20.3) | |||
| Unknown | 4 (0.6) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) | 6 (2.2) | 1 (1.4) | |||
| Smoking status at blood draw, N (%) | |||||||||
| Never | 439 (68.2) | 2 (8.7) | <0.001 | 115 (70.6) | 3 (5.9) | <0.001 | 187 (69.0) | 1 (1.4) | <0.001 |
| Former | 202 (31.4) | 5 (21.7) | 35 (21.5) | 3 (5.9) | 71 (26.2) | 6 (8.1) | |||
| Current | 3 (0.5) | 16 (69.6) | 13 (8.0) | 45 (88.2) | 5 (1.8) | 66 (89.2) | |||
| Missing | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 8 (3.0) | 1 (1.4) | |||
| Season of blood draw, N (%) | |||||||||
| Winter | 89 (13.8) | 4 (17.4) | 0.38 | 26 (16.0) | 6 (11.8) | 0.95 | 83 (30.6) | 16 (21.6) | 0.35 |
| Spring | 138 (21.4) | 3 (13) | 48 (29.4) | 18 (35.3) | 80 (29.5) | 25 (33.8) | |||
| Summer | 217 (33.7) | 5 (21.7) | 38 (23.3) | 9 (17.6) | 14 (5.2) | 8 (10.8) | |||
| Fall | 200 (31.1) | 11 (47.8) | 51(31.3) | 18 (35.3) | 94 (34.7) | 25 (33.8) | |||