The association of urinary cadmium with sex steroid hormone concentrations in a general population sample of US adult men

BACKGROUND Studies investigating the association of cadmium and sex steroid hormones in men have been inconsistent, but previous studies were relatively small. METHODS In a nationally representative sample of 1,262 men participating in the morning examination session of phase I (1998-1991) of the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, creatinine corrected urinary cadmium and serum concentrations of sex steroid hormones were measured following a standardized protocol. RESULTS After adjustment for age and race-ethnicity, higher cadmium levels were associated with higher levels of total testosterone, total estradiol, sex hormone-binding globulin, estimated free testosterone, and estimated free estradiol (each p-trend < 0.05). After additionally adjusting for smoking status and serum cotinine, none of the hormones maintained an association with urinary cadmium (each p-trend > 0.05). CONCLUSION Urinary cadmium levels were not associated with sex steroid hormone concentrations in a large nationally representative sample of US men.