Elevated blood lead and cadmium levels associated with chronic infections among non-smokers in a cross-sectional analysis of NHANES data

Table 2 Distribution of blood levels for lead and cadmium (in μg/mL) among non-smoking NHANES participants, 1999–2012

Survey years	Pathogen	N	Blood lead					Blood cadmium
Survey years	Pathogen	N	Weighted Geometric Mean (95 % CI)	25^th P	50^th P	75^th P	% below LOD^a	Weighted Geometric Mean (95 % CI)	25^th P	50^th P	75^th P	% below LOD^b
1999–2000	Helicobacter pylori	5994	1.50 (1.43–1.57)	0.94	1.43	2.18	0.80	0.33 (0.31–0.36)	0.20	0.29	0.40	35.1
	Negative	4073	1.41 (1.34–1.47)	0.88	1.34	2.01	0.96	0.31 (0.29–0.34)	0.20	0.26	0.38	39.6
	Positive	1921	1.86 (1.77–1.95)	1.18	1.76	2.71	0.26	0.40 (0.37–0.43)	0.23	0.36	0.49	20.4
1999–2004, 2009–2010	Toxoplasma gondii	18,425	1.13 (1.10–1.16)	0.72	1.10	1.69	0.95	0.25 (0.24–0.25)	0.15	0.20	0.38	44.7
	Negative	16,449	1.09 (1.07–1.12)	0.70	1.09	1.60	1.01	0.24 (0.24–0.25)	0.15	0.19	0.34	46.4
	Positive	1976	1.44 (1.40–1.49)	1.00	1.40	2.10	0.47	0.29 (0.28–0.31)	0.17	0.29	0.40	30.4
1999–2012	Hepatitis B virus	17,389	1.41 (1.38–1.44)	0.90	1.40	2.10	0.51	0.30 (0.30–0.31)	0.20	0.30	0.44	26.4
	Negative	16,231	1.39 (1.36–1.42)	0.90	1.39	2.09	0.53	0.30 (0.29–0.30)	0.19	0.29	0.42	14.7
	Positive	1158	1.80 (1.72–1.88)	1.23	1.77	2.61	0.18	0.41 (0.38–0.43)	0.27	0.40	0.59	27.1

ISSN: 1476-069X