Elevated blood lead and cadmium levels associated with chronic infections among non-smokers in a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES data

Table 3 Seropositivity associated with blood lead and cadmium levels, for each two-fold increase and across percentiles, among non-smoking NHANES participants, 1999–2012. All subjects

Heavy metal	H. pylori		T. gondii		Hepatitis B virus
Heavy metal	Positive (Weighted %)	AOR (95 % CI)^a,b	Positive (Weighted %)	AOR (95 % CI)^a,c	Positive (Weighted %)	AOR (95 % CI)^a,d
Per doubling of blood lead	23.1	1.22 (1.12–1.34) ^e	11.0	1.19 (1.12–1.28)	4.9	1.19 (1.08–1.32)
Blood lead concentration (μg/dL)
Quartile 1	12.7	Ref	5.6	Ref	2.2	Ref
Quartile 2	19.9	1.31 (0.98–1.75)	8.7	1.20 (0.93–1.54)	4.0	1.41 (1.04–1.93)
Quartile 3	24.3	1.39 (1.13–1.72)	12.8	1.53 (1.22–1.91)	6.1	1.79 (1.31–2.43)
Quartile 4	34.1	1.69 (1.33–2.15)	16.5	1.56 (1.28–1.90)	7.1	1.70 (1.23–2.35)
p for trend	<0.0001		<0.0001		0.0077
Per doubling of blood cadmium	23.1	1.37 (1.17–1.62)	11.0	1.06 (0.96–1.18)	4.9	1.38 (1.23–1.55)
Blood cadmium concentration (μg/L)
Tertile 1	13.4	Ref	6.9	Ref	2.8	Ref
Tertile 2	22.1	1.51 (1.16–1.97)	9.7	1.34 (1.03–1.74)	3.8	1.09 (0.84–1.43)
Tertile 3	30.5	1.48 (1.25–1.76)	14.4	1.32 (1.03–1.69)	7.7	1.72 (1.32–2.25)
p for trend	<0.0001		0.1438		<0.0001

^aMultivariable logistic regression used with survey procedures
^bAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, country of birth origin, family income, self-reported general health condition, tap water source, and household crowding
^cAdjusted for NHANES cycle, age, gender, race/ethnicity, country of birth origin, family income, self-reported general health condition, and household crowding
^dAdjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, country of birth origin, family income, self-reported general health condition, and use of illicit/street injected drugs
^eBolded font denotes statistically significant (α < 0.05)

ISSN: 1476-069X