Urinary cadmium contents in rural residents living in areas along Liujiang river after a cadmium pollution event

Objective To detect contents of urinary cadmium among residents living in rural areas along Liujiang river after a river water cadimium pollution event and to evaluate the health impact of the pollution.Methods Areas polluted by the pollution event were determined based on "Criteria for Identification of Health Hazard Area of Environmental Cadimium Pollution".Totally 212 permanent residents aged 25-54 years (half male and half female) in rural areas polluted were recruited and 210 age- and gender-matched residents living in areas more than 30 kilometers distant from the polluted area were selected as controls.Urine samples were collected for urianry cadimium detection among all the partici-pants.Results No significant difference was observed in the median of urinary cadmium between the residents from polluted and control areas (0.30 vs.0.33 μg/g cr,Z=-0.713;P=0.476);however,significant age group difference in the median of urinary cadmium among the the males (χ²=10.247,P=0.006) and gender difference (Z=-4.809,P=0.000) were observed among the residents from the polluted areas.Conclusion The cadimium pollution event had no significant impact on urinary cadimium content among residents living in rural areas along Liujiang river.