Association of blood cadmium with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with hypertension

BACKGROUND: Cadmium is a commonly found heavy metal with a prolonged biological half-life, which results in long-term health burden for the population. Prior studies have demonstrated an association between blood cadmium and hypertension. However, few studies examined the relationship between blood cadmium and long-term health outcomes in patients with hypertension. This study aimed to investigate the association of blood cadmium with mortality in patients with hypertension. METHODS: This study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2012. Complex sampling-weighted multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause, cardiovascular, and Alzheimer’s disease mortality in patients with hypertension classified by blood cadmium concentrations’ quantiles. RESULTS: The study included 12,208 patients with hypertension with a median follow-up duration of 10.8 years. During this period, there were 4,485 all-cause deaths, including 1,520 cardiovascular deaths and 180 Alzheimer’s disease deaths. Compared with the lowest quintile of blood cadmium (≤0.25 μg/L) group, the highest quintile of blood cadmium (≥0.80 μg/L) group’s adjusted HRs were 1.85 (95% CI, 1.59–2.14) for all-cause mortality, 1.76 (95% CI, 1.33–2.34) for cardiovascular mortality, and 3.41 (95% CI, 1.54–7.51) for Alzheimer’s disease mortality. Additionally, the adjusted HR for cardiovascular mortality was 2.12 (95% CI, 1.36–3.30) in never-smoking patients with hypertension. CONCLUSION: Higher blood cadmium is associated with increased risks of all-cause, cardiovascular, and Alzheimer’s disease mortality in patients with hypertension. The effect of blood cadmium on cardiovascular mortality may be more pronounced in never-smoking hypertensive patients.