Human Health Effects of Oral Exposure to Chromium:

Overview

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Key numbers

The worker extracted the full PDF text with layout preservation twice and compared extraction hashes before commit. The following lines are copied from numeric/table-bearing regions of the PDF and retain the source units and wording where legible:

the Epidemiological Evidence. Int. J. in the Earth’s crust, with an overall concentration of 125 mg/kg (1), and occurs in nature
ijerph21040406 mobile than the second most stable oxidation state, hexavalent Cr, Cr(VI). Cr(VI) rarely
steel, which comprises approximately 90% of all chromite ore use. In addition, Cr(VI)
(n = 295) occupational exposure, reviews,
was extended beyond any time limit (Section 3.1 and Table 1).
that evaluated theTable 1).
1–10 µg/L in surface and shallow groundwaters (11,21). Areas with high concentrations of
10 µg/L in surface and shallow groundwaters (11,21). Areas with high concentration
(Table 1). The most studied area concerns the suburbs of Jinzhou in Liaoning province in
in the early 1960s. Cr(VI) concentrations in groundwater and wells ranged from 0.002 up
to 20.0 mg/L in 1966, and after the adoption of control measures beginning in 1967, the
concentration of Cr(VI) in groundwater fell to the range of 0.01–0.05 mg/L by 1974 (22).
polluted water (rate ratio, RR = 1.82, 95% CI: 1.11–2.91)—a finding, however, that was not
guideline value of 50 µg/L, was Kanpur, one of the most industrialized cities in India,
odds of gastrointestinal problems and skin abnormalities (Table 1). Residents from affected
participant and associated with blood and hair Cr concentrations (Table 1). Hematologic
Cr (Tables 1 and 2). A morbidity cohort study (30) in the same area assessed exposure using
Table 1. Summary of the studies on environmental Cr(VI) oral exposure of the general population.
1970–1978 mortality 20,000 µg/L (control)
All cancer deaths: RR = 1.13, (95% CI: 0.86, 1.46)
1965–1978 mortality concentration <0.001–20.0 mg/L
Average Cr(VI) well-water All cancer deaths: RR = 1.10, (95% CI: 0.80, 1.51)
China, Liaoning province, villages Cr in groundwater: 0.002–2.5 mg/L
of Jinzhou city Cr in soil: 20.1–417.1 mg/kg
Gastrointestinal symptoms: OR = 3.1, (95% CI: 1.50, 6.39) (men),
Cross-sectional Skin symptoms: OR= 3.5 (95% CI 1.41, 8.58) (men), OR = 6.57, (95% CI
186 exposed Drinking water Cr(VI): 20,000 µg/L (28)
143 exposed Drinking water Cr(VI): 20,000 µg/L (28)
Ecological Drinking water Cr(VI): range 8–156 Kidney and genitourinary organ cancers: SMR= 3.68, (95% CI: 1.19,
mortality µg/L (N = 106) 8.58) in women
All cancer deaths: RR = 0.93, (95% CI: 0.87, 1.00) (33)
All deaths: RR = 0.98, (95% CI: 0.95, 1.02)
high-density lipoprotein, IL-12: interleukin-12, MCV: mean corpuscular volume, MDA: malondialdehyde, OR: odds ratio, PLT: platelet count, RBC: red blood cell, RR: rate ratio, SBP:
weight ranged from 3278.7 ± 441.4 g (38) to 3357.84 ± 445.01 g (42). The magnitude of
associations found in these studies is presented in Table 2. Indicatively, in the case control
body burden with health outcomes in pregnant women during gestation (Table 2). No
Cr (>0.4 µg/L) in urine (HR = 3.48, 95% CI: 1.02–11.8); albeit Cr was detected only in 15.4%
(14.7%) to the overall positive association of joint exposure to six metals with maternal
exposure but also in early life (Table 2). At this critical window of development, children
quartile had a 0.48-fold (95% CI: 0.25–0.88) decrease in the odds of hypertension. This
Table 2. Summary of biomonitoring studies on environmental exposure to Cr in early life stages.
China, Hubei province Cr-U: 4.57 µg/g creatinine (range:

Methods (brief)

in these studies is that Cr concentrations were determined in blood or serum samples
collected from the umbilical cord and not in urine samples of the mothers or the placenta.
was associated with the presence of white lines on the nails. In this study, hair samples
blood pressure (29,63). Notably, the Chinese cross-sectional study (61) recruited a large sample
Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Hg, Incident diabetes: HR = 0.71 (95% CI: 0.50, 1.01) for those with Cr > LOD compared to
Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Tl, those with Cr < LOD
413 reproductive-aged men (91.3% of the samples within normal range for total sperm count)
IgAN: immunoglobulin A nephropathy, LDH: lactate dehydrogenase, LDL: low-density lipoprotein, LOD: limit of detection, MCHC: mean cell hemoglobin concentration, MDA:
samples Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: RR = 1.092 (95% CI: 1.018,
were collected from 2000 to 2014, and 2092 patients diagnosed with pancreatic ductal
urine, and tissue samples (hair, toenails) reported in the reviewed studies could be the
sample of 11,037 adults, representative of the general Chinese population (61). The exposed
1. Beaumont, J.J.; Sedman, R.M.; Reynolds, S.D.; Sherman, C.D.; Li, L.H.; Howd, R.A.; Sandy, M.S.; Zeise, L.; Alexeeff, G.V.
Chromium, and Vanadium Levels in Serum, Hair, and Urine Samples of Obese Adults Assessed by Inductively Coupled Plasma
Mass Spectrometry. Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 2021, 199, 490–499. (CrossRef)
1. Alexander, J.; Aaseth, J. Uptake of chromate in human red blood cells and isolated rat liver cells: The role of the anion carrier.
1. Morton, J.; Tan, E.; Leese, E.; Cocker, J. Determination of 61 elements in urine samples collected from a non-occupationally
1. Rodushkin, I.; Ödman, F.; Branth, S. Multielement analysis of whole blood by high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
b01ec52c	2026-08-04	major	2 sections added
d49e450f	2026-08-03	major	5 sections added; narrative text revised