Sensitive indicators of renal dysfunction among workers exposed to cadmium

ABSTRACT

Cadmium-induced renal tubular dysfunction was examined in 28 male workers in 2 electroplating factories. Forty comparable apparently healthy administrators constituted the control group. Both groups were submitted to a battery of serum and urinary nephrotoxicity markers to assess the renal effects. The study revealed that chronic exposure to cadmium was associated with renal function impairment evidenced by increased frequencies of abnormal values of most of the nephrotoxicity markers used. Urinary NAG correlated well with all exposure indices, on the other hand urinary B[2] micrglobulin [B[2]M] showed a significant positive correlation only with blood cadmium level which was weaker than that of urinary NAG. Urinary NAG detected a larger proportion of abnormalities among the exposed workers than B[2]M. NAG was suggested to be a sensitive and useful marker for biological monitoring of workers exposed to cadmium