Combined exposure to multiple metals and cognitive function in older adults

Abstract

Single toxic metal exposure has been reported to be associated with impaired cognitive function, but less is known about the effects of combined exposure to multiple metals. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential associations and interactions of multiple metals with cognitive function in older adults using multi-pollutants approach. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a total of 2879 participants aged ≥ 60 years old. We systematically measured levels of 22 blood metals and used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess the cognitive function. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized regression was applied to identify independently main metals. Adjusted estimates of cognitive function with selected metals were investigated by generalized linear regression in the multi-metal model. We found that calcium, titanium, vanadium, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, rubidium, molybdenum, cadmium, barium, and lead were independently identified based on LASSO penalized regression. The multi-metal model showed a higher MMSE of 0.384 (95% CI: 0.122–0.646) for a 1-SD increment in log-transformed rubidium and a lower MMSE of 0.460 (95% CI: − 0.706 to − 0.214) for a 1-SD increment in log-transformed cadmium (P < 0.05). The significantly negative associations between cadmium and cognitive function were attenuated to null accompanying with increasing concentrations of rubidium (P interaction = 0.256). Our findings suggested that blood rubidium and cadmium were mainly associated with cognitive function when accounting for co-exposure to other metals and higher level of rubidium appeared to attenuate the toxic effects of cadmium on cognitive function in older adults.

Keywords

• Multiple metals
• Cognitive function
• Elderly
• LASSO regression