677 TABLE II-RENAL CADMIUM CONCENTRATION EXPRESSED AS IN RELATION TO ASH GEOMETRIC MEANS
(tig Cd/g
Preliminary Communication
WEIGHT)
BLOOD-PRESSURE AND SMOKING HABITS
CADMIUM AND HYPERTENSION KAREN ØSTERGAARD
Department of Pathology, Hvidovre Hospital,
Copenhagen, Denmark
The cadmium concentration of renal tissue from 82 patients who had died at the age of 45-65 years has been determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry; 43 were normotensive and 39 hypertensive. Renal cadmium concentration was higher in normotensives than in hypertensives. When smoking habits were taken into account, renal cadmium concentration was found to be 82% higher in normotensives than in hypertensives. Other workers have found the opposite relationship. It is proposed that this discrepancy might reflect either that variations due to age were not taken into account in previous investigations or that a difference exists between soft-water areas and hard-water areas such as the one studied.
Summary
INTRODUCTION
THE
between cadmium and hypertension has been the subject of several investigations’-3 since Schroeder and Vinton4showed that administration of cadmium to rats produced hypertension. Cadmium accumulates in the human kidney and some workers15 have found a positive correlation between renal cadmium concentration and hypertension. Others67 however, have failed to show this correlation. The exact relation between cadmium and hypertension is therefore still open to question.
in
relationship
man
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Renal tissue taken at necropsy was obtained from two Danish hospitals covering both urban (Copenhagen) and rural (the island of Zealand) districts. The samples, conically shaped and comprising both cortex and medulla, were ashed at 450oC, and the cadmium concentration determined by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry. Two samples from each patient were
analysed. Information about blood-pressure, smoking habits, and chronic diseases was obtained from the hospital case-records. 120 kidneys were analysed from patients who died in the agegroup 45-65 years, but only 82 cases for whom information on blood-pressure was available are presented here. Of these 43 were normotensive and 39 were hypertensive. (Hypertension has been defined according to W.H.O. standards as systolic blood-pressure above 160 or diastolic blood-pressure above 95 mm Hg.) In 30 cases no information about smoking habits was available; the remaining 52 cases comprised 17 non-smokers, 16 who smoked pipes, cigars, or cheroots, and 19
N.s.=Not
significant.
*p
(tig Cd/g
Preliminary Communication
WEIGHT)
BLOOD-PRESSURE AND SMOKING HABITS
CADMIUM AND HYPERTENSION KAREN ØSTERGAARD
Department of Pathology, Hvidovre Hospital,
Copenhagen, Denmark
The cadmium concentration of renal tissue from 82 patients who had died at the age of 45-65 years has been determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry; 43 were normotensive and 39 hypertensive. Renal cadmium concentration was higher in normotensives than in hypertensives. When smoking habits were taken into account, renal cadmium concentration was found to be 82% higher in normotensives than in hypertensives. Other workers have found the opposite relationship. It is proposed that this discrepancy might reflect either that variations due to age were not taken into account in previous investigations or that a difference exists between soft-water areas and hard-water areas such as the one studied.
Summary
INTRODUCTION
THE
between cadmium and hypertension has been the subject of several investigations’-3 since Schroeder and Vinton4showed that administration of cadmium to rats produced hypertension. Cadmium accumulates in the human kidney and some workers15 have found a positive correlation between renal cadmium concentration and hypertension. Others67 however, have failed to show this correlation. The exact relation between cadmium and hypertension is therefore still open to question.
in
relationship
man
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Renal tissue taken at necropsy was obtained from two Danish hospitals covering both urban (Copenhagen) and rural (the island of Zealand) districts. The samples, conically shaped and comprising both cortex and medulla, were ashed at 450oC, and the cadmium concentration determined by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry. Two samples from each patient were
analysed. Information about blood-pressure, smoking habits, and chronic diseases was obtained from the hospital case-records. 120 kidneys were analysed from patients who died in the agegroup 45-65 years, but only 82 cases for whom information on blood-pressure was available are presented here. Of these 43 were normotensive and 39 were hypertensive. (Hypertension has been defined according to W.H.O. standards as systolic blood-pressure above 160 or diastolic blood-pressure above 95 mm Hg.) In 30 cases no information about smoking habits was available; the remaining 52 cases comprised 17 non-smokers, 16 who smoked pipes, cigars, or cheroots, and 19
N.s.=Not
significant.
*p
