Joint effects between cadmium exposure and dietary antioxidant quality score on osteoporosis and bone mineral density

Abstract To explore the relationship between dietary antioxidant quality score (DAQS) and Cd exposure both alone and in combination with osteoporosis and bone mineral density (BMD) among postmenopausal women. In total, 4920 postmenopausal women from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were included in this cross-sectional study. Weighted univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the association between DAQS and Cd exposure with femur neck BMD, total femur BMD, osteoporosis among postmenopausal women, respectively, and the coexistence effect of DAQS and Cd exposure. Four hundred and ninety-nine had osteoporosis. DAQS (OR = 0·86, 95 % CI 0·77, 0·97) and high DAQS (OR = 0·60, 95 % CI 0·36, 0·99) were found to be associated with decreased odds of osteoporosis, while Cd exposure (OR = 1·34, 95 % CI 1·04, 1·72) and high Cd exposure (OR = 1·45, 95 % CI 1·02, 2·06) were related to increased odds of osteoporosis. A positive correlation was observed between high DAQS and both total femur BMD and femur neck BMD. Conversely, Cd exposure was found to be negatively correlated with total femur BMD and femur neck BMD. Additionally, taking low-Cd and high-quality DAQS group as reference, the joint effect of Cd exposure and DAQS showed greater increased odds of osteoporosis and decreased total femur BMD and femur neck BMD as Cd level and DAQS combinations worsened. There may be an interaction between Cd exposure and DAQS for femur neck BMD, total femur BMD, and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.