Environmental cadmium and lead exposure and anti-Müllerian hormone in pregnant women

BACKGROUND: Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) has been suggested as a marker for ovarian function. Cadmium and lead have been suggested to reduce female fecundity. In this study we aimed to investigate whether environmental exposure to cadmium and lead was associated with alterations in serum-AMH.MATERIALS AND METHOD: The associations between serum-AMH and whole blood cadmium or lead were investigated by general linear models in a population-based sample of 117 pregnant women.RESULTS: The mean concentrations of blood cadmium and lead were 0.71μg/L and 17.4μg/L, respectively. The mean serum-AMH was 17.3pmol/L. No association between lead and AMH was detected. In the cadmium analysis the adjusted mean AMH level (95% CI) in the highest exposure tertile was 12.4 (6.4;23.8) compared to 5.6 (2.7;11.4) in the lowest exposure tertile (p=0.06).CONCLUSION: The study provides suggestive evidence that environmental exposure to cadmium, but not lead, may alter the level of AMH