Association of environmental exposure to heavy metals and eczema in US population: Analysis of blood cadmium, lead, and mercury

Abstract

Objectives: We aim to explore the association between blood heavy metal concentrations of cadmium, lead, and mercury with ever-report of eczema in the US population.

Methods: We used NHANES cross-sectional data from 2005-2006. Eczema was measured among 4509 adults and 3898 non-adults. The association between eczema and tertiles of concentrations of cadmium, lead, mercury was estimated using multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for different confounding variables. The estimation was also stratified by gender.

Results: The prevalence of ever-report of eczema was 7.63% in adults and 13.42% in non-adults. None of the heavy metals was significantly associated with increased ORs of eczema after potential confounding variables were adjusted in the models. Our results remained null after stratifying for gender.

Conclusions: Blood cadmium, lead, and mercury were not associated with reports of eczema in general US population.

Keywords: Eczema; NHANES; allergen; cadmium; environmental epidemiology; immune system; lead; mercury.