title: Exposure to cadmium in male urban and rural workers and effects on FSH, LH and testosterone.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the relationship between exposure to cadmium and circulating reproductive hormone levels in urban and rural male workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Urinary cadmium, blood cadmium, luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone were obtained from 86 non-smoking traffic policemen and 86 subjects working as roadmen in a rural area. All subjects were monitored to evaluate airborne exposure to cadmium.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean value of exposure to cadmium was 1.3 ng m(-3) in traffic policemen, while the mean value was less than 0.5 ng m(-3) in roadmen. The mean concentrations of urinary cadmium (1.4 vs. 0.9 μg g(-1) creatinine; p=0.001), blood cadmium (1.1 vs. 0.7 μg l(-1); p=0.000), FSH (2.6 vs. 3.2 μlU ml(-1); p=0.02) and LH (2.6 vs. 3.1 μlU ml(-1); p=0.03) were significantly different between traffic policemen and roadmen. No differences were found in the mean values of testosterone between the two groups. Multiple linear regression models showed associations between (a) urinary cadmium, airborne cadmium, working life, job category and consumption of water from water supply (b) blood cadmium, airborne cadmium and job category (c) the values of FSH and age, working life, job category, urinary cadmium and blood cadmium (d) the values of LH and both the age and working life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The above results must be confirmed by further studies, but they indicate the influence of exposure to the cadmium present in urban air on the circulating FSH, even at low doses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00161 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciarrocca
authors.forename: Assunta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capozzella
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caciari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000652:urine; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D002104:Cadmium; D013739:Testosterone; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone