Effects of heavy metals on hypertension during menopause: a Korean community-based cross-sectional study

Objective: To examine the associations between serum cadmium, lead, and mercury and hypertension in pre- and postmenopausal women. Methods: Serum heavy metal (cadmium, lead, and mercury) levels were analyzed in 7,226 randomly selected women who participated in Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys from 2009 to 2017. Odds ratios (ORs) for hypertension were calculated for log2-transformed serum heavy metal levels, median tertile levels of serum cadmium, mercury, and lead, and for interactions between heavy metal levels and tertiles, after covariate adjustment. Results: A doubling of serum cadmium was associated with hypertension in premenopausal (OR 2.47; 95% CI, 1.01-6.10, P = 0.049) and postmenopausal women (OR 1.70; 95% CI, 1.02-2.84, P = 0.043), and significant trends were observed for cadmium tertiles (P 
Source: Menopause - Category: OBGYN Tags: Original Studies Source Type: research