ArticleBMJ open2021
Relationship between heavy metal exposure and type 2 diabetes: a large-scale retrospective cohort study using occupational health examinations.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Glycemic Regulation and Renal Function by Heavy Metal Exposure: A Cross-Sectional Analysis on Cement Plant Workers.Journal of applied toxicology : JAT · 2026Article
- Toxic Metal-Essential Trace Element Imbalance in Cardiometabolic Disease: Ferroptosis as a Mechanistic Link Between Environmental Exposure and Vascular Injury.Cardiovascular toxicology · 2026Review
- Combined Effects of Metals and PFAS Exposure on Prevalent Diabetes.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Article
- Trace Elements in the Pancreas: From Physiological Homeostasis to the Pathogenesis of Diabetes, Pancreatitis, and Cancer-A Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Metal Mixture Inflammatory Index and diabetes risk in US adults: a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES 1999-2020 and development of a LASSO-based prediction model.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2025Article
- Associations of cadmium exposure within heavy metal combinations with osteoporosis risk: an analysis of NHANES data (2013-2014 and 2017-2018).Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Article
- Concurrent Lead and Cadmium Exposure Among Diabetics: A Case-Control Study of Socio-Demographic and Consumption Behaviors.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Toxic metals impact gut microbiota and metabolic risk in five African-origin populations.Gut microbes reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Biochemical study of the risk of diabetes, prediabetic and insulin resistance in car painters and its association with mercury exposure: a retrospective case-control study.Toxicology research · 2024Article
- Evaluation of the cognitive, physiological, and biomarker effects of heavy metal exposure in Wistar rats.Veterinary world · 2024Article
- Association Between Arsenic Toxicity, AS3MT Gene Polymorphism and Onset of Type 2 Diabetes.Biological trace element research · 2024Article
- Relationship between blood lead (Pb) concentration with risk of diabetes mellitus in women living in mining area.Narra J · 2024Article
- The Role of Endocrine Disruption Chemical-Regulated Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Activity in the Pathogenesis of Pancreatic Diseases and Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Associations between metals and metabolomic profiles related to diabetes among adults in a rural region.Environmental research · 2024Article
- Association of SLC11A1 polymorphisms with anthropometric and biochemical parameters describing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Association between metal mixture exposure and abnormal glucose metabolism in multiple mixture exposure models: Evidence from NHANES 2015-2016.Current research in toxicology · 2023Article
- Relationship between Metal Exposures, Dietary Macronutrient Intake, and Blood Glucose Levels of Informal Electronic Waste Recyclers in Ghana.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Effects of multi-metal exposure on the risk of diabetes mellitus among people aged 40-75 years in rural areas in southwest China.Journal of diabetes investigation · 2022Article
- Molecular pathways dysregulated by PbToxicology research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the associations between heavy metal exposure and serum ferritin levels, physical measurements and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).
designA retrospective cohort study.
settingChangwon, the location of this study, is a Korean representative industrial city. Data were obtained from medical check-ups between 2002 and 2018.
participantsA total of 34 814 male subjects were included. Of them, 1035 subjects with lead exposure, 200 subjects with cadmium exposure and the 33 579 remaining were assigned to cohort A, cohort B and the control cohort, respectively. Data including personal history of alcohol and smoking, age, height, weight, the follow-up duration, haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting blood sugar (FBS), ferritin levels, and lead and cadmium levels within 1 year after exposure were collected. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: In subjects without diabetes, changes in FBS and HbA1c were analysed through repeated tests at intervals of 1 year or longer after the occupational exposure to heavy metals.
resultsIn Cohort A, DM was diagnosed in 33 subjects. There was a significant difference in lead concentrations between the subjects diagnosed with DM and those without DM during the follow-up period (3.94±2.92 mg/dL vs 2.81±2.03 mg/dL, p=0.002). Simple exposure to heavy metals (lead and cadmium) was not associated with DM in Cox regression models (lead exposure (HR) 1.01, 95% CI: 0.58 to 1.77, p 0.971; cadmium exposure HR 1.48, 95% CI: 0.61 to 3.55, p=0.385). Annual changes in FBS according to lead concentration at the beginning of exposure showed a positive correlation (r=0.072, p=0.032).
conclusionOur findings demonstrated that simple occupational exposure to heavy metals lead and cadmium was not associated with the incidence of DM. However, lead concentrations at the beginning of the exposure might be an indicator of DM and glucose elevations.
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