Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011:2011:870125.
doi: 10.1155/2011/870125. Epub 2011 Sep 8.

Heavy metal poisoning and cardiovascular disease

Eman M Alissa  1 , Gordon A Ferns
Affiliations

Heavy metal poisoning and cardiovascular disease

Eman M Alissa et al. J Toxicol. 2011.

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an increasing world health problem. Traditional risk factors fail to account for all deaths from CVD. It is mainly the environmental, dietary and lifestyle behavioral factors that are the control keys in the progress of this disease. The potential association between chronic heavy metal exposure, like arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, and CVD has been less well defined. The mechanism through which heavy metals act to increase cardiovascular risk factors may act still remains unknown, although impaired antioxidants metabolism and oxidative stress may play a role. However, the exact mechanism of CVD induced by heavy metals deserves further investigation either through animal experiments or through molecular and cellular studies. Furthermore, large-scale prospective studies with follow up on general populations using appropriate biomarkers and cardiovascular endpoints might be recommended to identify the factors that predispose to heavy metals toxicity in CVD. In this review, we will give a brief summary of heavy metals homeostasis, followed by a description of the available evidence for their link with CVD and the proposed mechanisms of action by which their toxic effects might be explained. Finally, suspected interactions between genetic, nutritional and environmental factors are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. AHA (American Heart Association) Heart disease and stroke statistics—2007 update. A report from the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation. 2007;115(5):e69–e171. - PubMed
    1. WHO (World Health Organization) Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) fact sheet no. 317, World Health Organization, 2009.
    1. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) The burden of chronic diseases and their risk factors—national and state perspectives. 2004.
    1. Lopez AD, Mathers CD, Ezzati M, Jamison DT, Murray CJ. Global and regional burden of disease and risk factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data. The Lancet. 2006;367(9524):1747–1757. - PubMed
    1. Kraemer HC, Stice E, Kazdin A, Offord D, Kupfer D. How do risk factors work together? Mediators, moderators, and independent, overlapping, and proxy risk factors. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 2001;158(6):848–856. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources

-