title: Tissue cadmium (Cd) concentrations of people living in a Cd polluted area, Japan.
abstract: There are more than 50 cadmium (Cd) polluted areas in Japan. The severest general environmental Cd polluted area in Japan was the Jinzu River basin in Toyama Prefecture where Itai-itai disease had been endemic. The present study aimed to compare organ Cd concentrations of inhabitants who had been exposed to different levels of environmental Cd and to clarify the health effects of the environmental Cd exposure in Japan. Since 1960 we have measured tissue Cd concentrations of inhabitants with a history of living in a different Cd polluted areas. Study population living in Cd polluted areas were 36 (1 male, 35 females) patients with Itai-itai disease, 20 (7 males, 13 females) subjects suspected of having Itai-itai disease, 8 (2 males, 6 females) inhabitants in Cd polluted areas other than the Jinzu River basin. Subjects who had lived in Cd non-polluted area were 72 inhabitants. Cd concentrations in liver, pancreas and thyroid of those living in Cd polluted areas were as high as those of patients with Itai-itai disease, and their Cd concentrations in renal cortex were as low as those of patients with Itai-itai disease. The present study demonstrated that tissue Cd concentrations of some inhabitants in Cd polluted areas other than Jinzu River basin are equal to those of the patients with Itai-itai disease and that patients with Itai-itai disease were present even in these areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan. muetani@faculty.chiba-u.jp
authors.forename: Mirei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uetani
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suwazono
authors.forename: Ryumon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Muneko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishijo
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nogawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002104:Cadmium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002105:Cadmium Poisoning; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D002104:Cadmium