Negative Association between Serum Parathyroid Hormone Levels and Urinary Perchlorate, Nitrate, and Thiocyanate Concentrations in U.S. Adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006

Abstract

ObjectivesPerchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate are well-known inhibitors of the sodium-iodide symporter and may disrupt thyroid function. This exploratory study investigated the association among urinary perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate concentrations and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in the general U.S. population.MethodsWe analyzed data on 4265 adults (aged 20 years and older) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2005 through 2006 to evaluate the relationship among urinary perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate concentration and PTH levels and the presence of hyperparathyroidism cross-sectionally.ResultsThe geometric means and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) concentrations of urinary perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate were 3.38 (3.15–3.62), 40363 (37512–43431), and 1129 (1029–1239) ng/mL, respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables and sample weights, creatinine-corrected urinary perchlorate was negatively associated with serum PTH levels in women (P = 0.001), and creatinine-corrected urinary nitrate and thiocyanate were negatively associated with serum PTH levels in both sex groups (P = 0.001 and P<0.001 for men, P = 0.018 and P<0.001 for women, respectively). Similar results were obtained from sensitivity analyses performed for exposure variables unadjusted for creatinine with urinary creatinine added as a separate covariate. There was a negative relationship between hyperparathyroidism and urinary nitrate and thiocyanate [odds ratio (95% CI) = 0.77 (0.60–0.98) and 0.69 (0.61–0.79), respectively].ConclusionsA higher urinary concentration of perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate is associated with lower serum PTH levels. Future studies are needed to determine the pathophysiological background of the observation.

Use of Urinary Thiocyanate as a Biomarker of Tobacco Smoke

“…Some of these data are comparable to what was observed in this study but UGMs for females are substantially higher for this study than what was reported by Ko et al [7]. Also, while USCN levels were higher for NHW in this study than NHB, the reverse relationship was reported by Ko et al [7]. Authors investigated the reasons for these discrepancies and found the explanation.…”

“…Authors investigated the reasons for these discrepancies and found the explanation. Ko et al [7] computed the UGMs for USCN without making any adjustments for urine creatinine and we were able to almost match their UGMs for 2005-2006 data. However, as has been recommended by [17], we used urine creatinine in the models to adjust for urine creatinine.…”

“…Ko et al [7] used data from 2005-2006 NHANES for those aged ≥ 20 years old and reported UGM levels for total population to be 1129 ng/mL, and 1361 ng/mL for males (as compared to 1385.7 ng/mL for this study), 948 ng/mL for females (as compared to 1185.6 ng/mL), 1247 ng/mL for NHW (as compared 1426.3 ng/mL for this study), 1469 ng/mL for NHB (as compared to 1270.9 ng/mL for this study), 714 ng/mL for MA (as compared to 877 ng/mL for this study), and 922 ng/mL for OTH (as compared to 893.1 ng/mL for this study). Some of these data are comparable to what was observed in this study but UGMs for females are substantially higher for this study than what was reported by Ko et al [7].…”

“…It has been shown that urinary and/or serum thiocyanate levels among smokers are substantially higher than non-smokers [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

A miniaturized solid-contact potentiometric multisensor platform for determination of ionic profiles in human saliva

“…Therefore, monitoring of ion concentration changes in human blood is successfully performed as a basic analysis in medical diagnostics [57]. It is known that the ionic composition of saliva may reflect the health state of the person being examined [58][59][60][61][62]. Due to the correlation of ion concentration with the general health status, the potentiometric measurements can be applied to the assessment of ionic profiles in saliva [62].…”