ArticleEnvironmental research2011
Whole blood lead levels are associated with biomarkers of joint tissue metabolism in African American and white men and women: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.
Article in Environmental research, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pollutants: a candidate as a new risk factor for osteoarthritis-results from a systematic literature review.RMD open · 2022Pooled it
- Elemental imbalance and oxidative biomarker shifts in lumbar disc degeneration.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Analyzing the impact of heavy metal exposure on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis: an approach based on interpretable machine learning.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Concentration of Selected Macronutrients and Toxic Elements in the Blood in Relation to Pain Severity and Hydrogen Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in People with Osteoarthritis of the Spine.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Identification for heavy metals exposure on osteoarthritis among aging people and Machine learning for prediction: A study based on NHANES 2011-2020.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Machine-learning models predicting osteoarthritis associated with the lead blood level.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
- Association between Musculoskeletal Pain and Bone Turnover Markers in Long-Term Pb-Exposed Workers.Journal of research in health sciences · 2021Article
- Article
- Assessment of Bone Turnover Biomarkers in Lead-Battery Workers with Long-Term Exposure to Lead.The international journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2020Article
- An Ongoing Assessment of Osteoarthritis in African Americans and Caucasians in North Carolina: The Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association · 2015Article
- Associations between biomarkers of joint metabolism, hand osteoarthritis, and hand pain and function: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.The Journal of rheumatology · 2014Article
- Association between serum and urine biomarkers and lumbar spine individual radiographic features: the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project.Osteoarthritis and cartilage · 2012Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine associations between biomarkers of joint tissue metabolism and whole blood lead (Pb), separately for men and women in an African American and Caucasian population, which may reflect an underlying pathology.
methodsParticipants in the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project Metals Exposure Sub-Study (329 men and 342 women) underwent assessment of whole blood Pb and biochemical biomarkers of joint tissue metabolism. Urinary cross-linked N telopeptide of type I collagen (uNTX-I) and C-telopeptide fragments of type II collagen (uCTX-II), serum cleavage neoepitope of type II collagen (C2C), serum type II procollagen synthesis C-propeptide (CPII), and serum hyaluronic acid (HA) were measured using commercially available kits; the ratio of [C2C:CPII] was calculated. Serum cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) was measured by an in-house assay. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine associations between continuous blood Pb and biomarker outcomes, adjusted for age, race, current smoking status, and body mass index. Results are reported as estimated change in biomarker level for a 5-unit change in Pb level.
resultsThe median Pb level among men and women was 2.2 and 1.9μg/dL, respectively. Correlations were noted between Pb levels and the biomarkers uNTX-I, uCTX-II, and COMP in women, and between Pb and uCTX-II, COMP, CPII, and the ratio [C2C:CPII] in men. In adjusted models among women, a 5-unit increase in blood Pb level was associated with a 28% increase in uCTX-II and a 45% increase in uNTX-I levels (uCTX-II: 1.28 [95% CI: 1.04-1.58], uNTX-I: 1.45 [95% CI:1.21-1.74]). Among men, levels of Pb and COMP showed a borderline positive association (8% increase in COMP for a 5-unit change in Pb: 1.08 [95% CI: 1.00-1.18]); no other associations were significant after adjustment.
conclusionsBased upon known biomarker origins, the novel associations between blood Pb and biomarkers appear to be primarily reflective of relationships to bone and calcified cartilage turnover among women and cartilage metabolism among men, suggesting a potential gender-specific effect of Pb on joint tissue metabolism that may be relevant to osteoarthritis.
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