Blood metal levels and serum testosterone concentrations in male and female children and adolescents: NHANES 2011-2012

PLoS One. 2019 Nov 7;14(11):e0224892. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224892. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Environmental exposure to metals is ubiquitous, but its relation to androgen hormone levels is not well understood, especially in children and adolescents. This study aimed to explore the relationship between blood metal concentrations (lead, cadmium, total mercury, selenium, and manganese) and serum total testosterone (TT) levels in 6-19-year-old children and adolescents in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2012. Weighted multivariable linear regression models using NHANES sampling weights were employed to evaluate the association between log-transformed serum TT and each metal categories in male and female children (age 6-11years) and adolescents (age 12-19 years). We established that blood cadmium and manganese levels were associated with significantly higher serum TT levels in the female adolescents. Additionally, the blood selenium levels in male adolescents were related to significantly higher serum TT. No significant associations between blood lead or total mercury levels and TT were observed in children or adolescents of either sex. These findings suggest that environmental exposure to certain metals could affect serum TT levels in adolescents, which might have important implications for the health of adolescents. Further research is required to confirm and extend our present findings.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Metals / blood*
  • Nutrition Surveys*
  • Regression Analysis
  • Testosterone / blood*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Metals
  • Testosterone

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Fund for Young Scholars (Grant No. 81704164), Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20151043), Six Talent Peaks Project in the Jiangsu Province (Grant No. WSN-044), and 333 Talent Project in the Jiangsu Province (Grant No. 2016Ⅲ-3288). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.