The relationship between itai-itai disease among inhabitants of the Jinzu River basin and cadmium in rice.
Women over 50 years of age in 32 cadmium(Cd)-polluted and 16 nonpolluted hamlets were studied. Itai-itai disease patients and proteinuria with glucosuria were used as indices of the effect of Cd on health. Unpolished rice samples were collected from 568 households in the same area and analyzed for Cd. The hamlet's average Cd concentration in rice was used as an index of Cd exposure. A close relationship between Cd exposure and health effects was found to exist when the women were classified according to their hamlet average rice-Cd concentrations. It is demonstrated that a dose-response relationship between Cd exposure and itai-itai disease exists.
D002104:Cadmium / Q000032:analysis*; D002105:Cadmium Poisoning / Q000209:etiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005504:Food Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D012275:Oryza / Q000032:analysis*
D002104:Cadmium