ArticleJournal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology
Urinary trace element concentrations in environmental settings: is there a value for systematic creatinine adjustment or do we introduce a bias?
Article in Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Urinary Concentration Correction Methods for Arsenic, Cadmium, and Mercury: a Systematic Review of Practice-Based Evidence.Current environmental health reports · 2019Pooled it
- The Folic Acid and Creatine Trial: Treatment Effects of Supplementation on Arsenic Methylation Indices and Metabolite Concentrations in Blood in a Bangladeshi Population.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Trial
- Associations of Essential and Non-Essential Trace Elements' Levels in the Blood, Serum, and Urine in Women with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency.Biological trace element research · 2025Article
- Variable power functional dilution adjustment of spot urine.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Association of Trace Elements with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in Women-A Case-Control Study.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Method validation for (ultra)-trace element concentrations in urine for small sample volumes in large epidemiological studies: application to the population-based epidemiological multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA).Analytical methods : advancing methods and applications · 2024Article
- Association of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension with arsenic in drinking water in the Comarca Lagunera province (north-central Mexico).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Novel Strategies for Assessing Associations Between Selenium Biomarkers and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: Concentration, Visit-to-Visit Variability, or Individual Mean? Evidence From a Repeated-Measures Study of Older Adults With High Selenium.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Article
- Development of a multiplex mass spectrometry method for simultaneous quantification of urinary proteins related to respiratory health.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Spot urine iodine levels below the WHO recommendation are not related to impaired thyroid function in healthy children and adolescents.European journal of nutrition · 2021Article
- Association of electronic cigarette use with lead, cadmium, barium, and antimony body burden: NHANES 2015-2016.Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology : organ of the Society for Minerals and Trace Elements (GMS) · 2020Article
- The physiological determinants of low-level urine cadmium: an assessment in a cross-sectional study among schoolchildren.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2017Article
- Arsenic and Obesity: A Comparison of Urine Dilution Adjustment Methods.Environmental health perspectives · 2017Article
- Lipid and Creatinine Adjustment to Evaluate Health Effects of Environmental Exposures.Current environmental health reports · 2017Review
- Gold Mining in Ecuador: A Cross-Sectional Assessment of Mercury in Urine and Medical Symptoms in Miners from Portovelo/Zaruma.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Systematic creatinine adjustment of urinary concentrations of biomarkers has been a challenge over the past years because the assumption of a constant creatinine excretion rate appears erroneous and the issue of overadjustment has recently emerged. This study aimed at determining whether systematic creatinine adjustment is to be recommended for urinary concentrations of trace elements (TEs) in environmental settings. Paired 24-h collection and random spot urine samples (spotU) were obtained from 39 volunteers not occupationally exposed to TEs. Four models to express TEs concentration in spotU were tested to predict the 24-h excretion rate of these TEs (TEμg/24h) considered as the gold standard reference: absolute concentration (TEμg/l); ratio to creatinine (TEμg/gcr); TEμg/gcr adjusted to creatinine (TEμg/gcr-adj); and concentration adjusted to specific gravity (TEμg/l-SG). As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Li, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sn, Sb, Se, Te, V and Zn were analyzed by inductively coupled argon plasma mass spectrometry. There was no single pattern of relationship between urinary TEs concentrations in spotU and TEμg/24h. TEμg/l predicted TEμg/24h with an explained variance ranging from 0 to 60%. Creatinine adjustment improved the explained variance by an additional 5 to ~60% for many TEs, but with a risk of overadjustment for the most of them. This issue could be addressed by adjusting TE concentrations on the basis of the regression coefficient of the relationship between TEμg/gcr and creatinine concentration. SG adjustment was as suitable as creatinine adjustment to predict TEμg/24h with no SG-overadjustment (except V). Regarding Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Te, none of the models were found to reflect TEμg/24h. In the context of environmental exposure, systematic creatinine adjustment is not recommended for urinary concentrations of TEs. SG adjustment appears to be a more reliable alternative. For some TEs, however, neither methods appear suitable.
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