Effect of Cadmium Body Burden on Immune Response of School Children

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Abstract
The effects of cadmium on measures of immune-system function were determined from a health survey of school children in heavily polluted regions of eastern Germany. A representative sample of 842 students, aged 5–14 y, was included in logistic regression analyses in which the relationship between urinary cadmium content and blood immunoglobulin levels was examined. Investigators further evaluated a subsample of 807 students to determine cadmium's effect on the immediate hypersensitivity reactions elicited by skin-prick challenges with 12 common aeroallergens. Several potentially confounding factors were controlled for, after which investigators found that increasing body burdens of cadmium were associated consistently with dose-dependent suppression of immediate hypersensitivity and of immunoglobin G, but not immunoglobulins M, A, or E levels. The immunoglobulin pattern observed in exposed children led investigators to suggest that secondary humoral responses were impaired by cadmium.

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