Context: Animal model studies have demonstrated that subchronic oral uranium exposure is associated with renal dysfunction. Little is known about the effects of environmental exposure to uranium in humans.
Objective: To determine whether environmental exposure to uranium is associated with alterations in renal function among residents of the United States.
Methods: We analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2010. Inclusion criteria included the measurement of urine uranium concentration, serum creatinine (sCr), and urine albumin-creatinine ratio. Exclusion criteria included a reported history of diabetes mellitus. Urine uranium concentrations were normalized to urinary creatinine. Respondents with and without detectable urine uranium concentrations were compared using Welch's t-test for urine albumin-creatinine ratio and sCr and using Fisher's exact test for a reported history of renal disease. Regression analysis was performed to assess for an association between urine uranium concentration and urine albumin-creatinine ratio, sCr, or a reported history of renal disease.
Results: Uranium was detectable in the urine of 74.1% (n = 9025) of respondents. Urine albumin-creatinine ratio was significantly greater in respondents with detectable urine uranium concentrations (mean 4.84 ± 45.8 mg/g) compared to respondents without detectable urine uranium concentrations (mean 0.77 ± 3.7 mg/g) (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the groups with respect to sCr or a reported history of renal disease. Regression analysis did not show a statistically significant association between urine uranium concentration and urine albumin-creatinine ratio (p = 0.45), sCr (p = 0.71), or a reported history of renal disease (p = 0.05).
Conclusions: In this study, a high proportion of the U.S. population had exposure to uranium. We demonstrated an association between detectable urine uranium concentrations and microalbuminuria in residents of the United States but no association with clinical renal disease.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/15563650.2015.1094704 | DOI Listing |
Biomed Pharmacother
December 2024
Institute of Radiation Medicine, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, No. 2094, Xie-Tu Road, Shanghai 200032, PR China. Electronic address:
Uranium (U) released from U mining and spent nuclear fuel reprocessing in the nuclear industry, nuclear accidents and military activities as a primary environmental pollutant (e.g., drinking water pollution) is a threat to human health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEcotoxicol Environ Saf
December 2024
Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China. Electronic address:
Background: A relatively well-established link was observed between metal mixtures exposure and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the relationship between metal mixtures exposure and serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) concentrations, a valuable non-invasive biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases, in general adult populations remains understudied and unclear.
Objective: This study seeks to elucidate the potential impact of metal mixtures exposure on sNfL concentrations in a representative sample of U.
JAMA Netw Open
December 2024
Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York.
Importance: Metals are established neurotoxicants, but evidence of their association with cognitive performance at low chronic exposure levels is limited.
Objective: To investigate the association of urinary metal levels, individually and as a mixture, with cognitive tests and dementia diagnosis, including effect modification by apolipoprotein ε4 allele (APOE4).
Design, Setting, And Participants: The multicenter prospective cohort Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) was started from July 2000 to August 2002, with follow-up through 2018.
J Toxicol Environ Health A
March 2025
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Baltimore, MD, USA.
During the spring of 2024, 33 members of a group of Gulf War I veterans wounded in depleted uranium (DU) friendly-fire incidents were seen at the Baltimore VA Medical Center for surveillance related to their combat exposure. The cohort was assessed with a protocol which includes exposure monitoring for total and isotopic uranium (U) concentrations in urine and a comprehensive assessment of health outcomes including measures of bone metabolism and bone mineral density (BMD). An audiometry examination of the cohort was added to assess for acoustic trauma and toxic metal effects in this surveillance episode marking over 30 years since this exposure event.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
December 2024
Department of Medical Physics, College of Sciences, Al-Mustaqbal University, 51001 Babylon, Iraq. Electronic address:
The simple and effective technique of fission track etch has been applied to determine trace concentration of uranium in human urine samples taken from two groups of male and female participants: cancer patients and healthy subjects are living in Dhi-Qar governorate, southern of Iraq. This governorate was the center of industrialization and the prior military activities especially during the Gulf wars in 1991 and 2003, and the abandoned weaponry is still present in these regions. The induced fission track registration was done using the CR-39 track detector.
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