Variation in repeated U-Cd samples has been noted previously by
others.3,12,19–22 In this study, we estimated the short-term
variability (within a day, and between two days mostly 4–6 days
apart) of U-Cd excretion among healthy non-smoking men andwomen. This variability can lead to a biased prediction if results are
used for epidemiologic studies of exposure–response relationships
or studies comparing exposure levels between different groups.2
In our study, the major part of the variability of the investigated
measures of U-Cd excretion could be attributed to the betweenindividual
variance. A review on biomonitoring of occupational
exposures reported the same result for exposures to substances
with long half-life.23 Compared with all spot urine samples,
24 h U-Cd excretion and measures in UON samples had a lower
s2
wY/s2
bY, indicating a larger reproducibility.
Others have reported a reduction of the variance when U-Cd
concentrations in urine were adjusted for dilution.3,19,21 In our
study, this was the case for adjustment by creatinine in spot urine
samples but not for the UON samples adjusted for SG. However,
adjustment for dilution increased the ICC for all measures.
In this study, 95% of the levels for a given individual varied from
about 2- to 4-fold for U24 samples and from 4- to 10-fold for UON
samples. A similar within-individual variation in U-Cd concentrations
adjusted for dilution was seen in second morning samples
taken for 10 subsequent weeks among 17 environmentally
exposed women in Japan.21