Objective To examine the relationship between urinary copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and arsenic (As) and the incidence of nodular goiter and to provide evidences for nodular goiter prevention and treatment.
Methods The cases of the study were 373 pathologically diagnosed nodular goiter patients hospitalized in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery of Anhui Cancer Hospital from September 2016 through March 2019; while, the controls were 1 : 1 individually gender- and age (± 2 years)-matched healthy people selected from a cohort study conducted in Anhui province. Face-to-face questionnaire interviews and laboratory tests were carried out among the participants.
Results Significantly lower morning urinary Cu (median µg/g; 25th quartile, 75th quartile) was detected in the cases compared to that in the controls (6.13; 2.36, 11.00 vs. 10.36; 6.27, 16.95; Z = – 6.625; P < 0.001); while, no significant differences between the cases and the controls were detected in morning urinary Zn (312.16; 98.65, 500.19 vs. 340.40; 99.41, 580.54) and As (30.44; 4.36, 88.30 vs. 23.75; 3.67, 81.82) (both P > 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors such as gender, age, marital status, smoking, passive smoking, alcohol consumption, daily sleep time, body mass index, fasting blood glucose, serum total cholesterol, serum triglyceride, serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol, urinary Zn and urinary As, the results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that higher urinary Cu was associated with a decreased risk of nodular goiter (the third quartile Q3 – the highest quartile Q4 vs. the lowest quartile Q1: odds ratio OR = 0.73, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 0.54 – 0.98; Q4 vs. Q1: OR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.39 – 0.81; and Q4 vs. Q1: OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.19 – 0.97 only for male participants); the analyses did not revealed significant correlations between urinary Zn and As and nodular goiter incidence (all P > 0.05).
Conclusion Urinary Cu concentration may reversely associated with nodular goiter incidence in Chinese people.
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