Female Infertility Associated with Blood Lead and Cadmium Levels

Sohyae Lee, Jin-young Min and Kyoung-bok Min
Additional contact information
Sohyae Lee: Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea
Jin-young Min: Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Kyoung-bok Min: Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Lead and cadmium are known to be potential female reproductive toxins. However, studies on the relationship between these metals and infertility are limited. This study examines the association between self-reported infertility and blood lead and cadmium levels in US women by comparing metal levels in infertile and pregnant women. Data on blood lead, blood cadmium, and infertility from women aged 20–39 years who participated in the 2013–2014 and 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were analyzed ( n = 124, ‘pregnant’ n = 42, ‘infertile’ n = 82). Blood lead and cadmium levels were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and infertility and pregnancy status were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. Low blood lead and cadmium levels (geometric mean of blood lead = 0.50 µg/dL and blood cadmium = 0.26 µg/L) were positively associated with self-reported infertility after adjusting for confounding effects (odds ratio (OR) for lead per two-fold increase in blood metal levels = 2.60; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.05–6.41 and OR for cadmium per two-fold increase = 1.84; 95% CI, 1.07–3.15). Although our findings require confirmation, they suggest that even low blood cadmium and lead levels may be deleterious to female fecundity.

Keywords: reproductive health; female infertility; heavy metals; lead; cadmium; cross-sectional study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1794/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/5/1794/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:5:p:1794-:d:330680

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().