LIFESTYLE/ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND BLOOD CADMIUM LEVEL IN HYPERTENSIVE AND NORMOTENSIVE INDIVIDUALS

Cadmium is a trace metal that progressively accumulates in human tissues with age. Although animals chronically exposed to cadmium develop persistent hypertension at concentrations comparable to the exposures of many humans, results of studies involving man have been inconsistent in establishing the role of cadmium in essential hypertension.;A retrospective design was utilized. Thirty-two Black hypertensive females ages 50-75 years were selected for comparison with 30 normotensives using a distributional matching scheme. Questionnaires were used to gather data on demographic, lifestyle, dietary, health and other factors. In addition, blood cadmium levels were determined from venous blood samples using atomic absorption spectrophotometry with a graphite furnace. The data was analyzed using logistic regression and other multivariate techniques.;Based on the results of the analysis utilizing logistic regression, blood cadmium level was not significant below the p value of 0.05 in predicting an individual to be hypertensive or normotensive. Only family history of hypertension was significant in this respect. However, blood cadmium level along with body mass ranked second in order of significance (p = 0.07). Further, when blood cadmium was considered the dependent variable utilizing a stepwise regression technique, smoking status, blood pressure status and body mass were the independent variables found to be significantly related to blood cadmium level. Lastly, the standard error of the analytical technique developed by this study was 1.6 and along with other measures was found to be most accurate and reliable.;For the future, studies involving a larger sample size and cross-sectional design are indicated. These would further clarify and validate any relationship between blood cadmium level and essential hypertension.;In the present study, blood cadmium level in consideration with other independent variables thought to be relative to hypertension such as lifestyle, dietary, health, etc. were investigated to determine their predictability in regards to correctly classifying an individual as hypertensive or normotensive. In addition, an analytical technique was developed for measuring blood cadmium levels and examined for accuracy and precision.