Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 414, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden. [Email]
Smoking is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and causes exposure to cadmium, which is a pro-atherosclerotic metal. Cadmium exposure has also been shown to increase the risk of CVD, even after adjustment for smoking. Our hypothesis was that part of the risk of CVD in smokers may be mediated by cadmium exposure from tobacco smoke. We examined this hypothesis in a mediation analysis, trying to assess how much of the smoking-induced CVD risk could be explained via cadmium.
