Review Article

Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury in Sweat: A Systematic Review

Table 2

Studies of cadmium excretion in sweat.

StudyCountry, participantsStudy design and interventionKey findings (concentrations μg/L unless otherwise indicated)

Genuis et al., 2010 [3]Canada
10 with chronic conditions
10 healthy
Simultaneous measurement of toxic trace elements in blood plasma, urine, and sweat
Exercise or sauna
Sweat collected directly into bottle
3 participants with cadmium detected in all samples
Blood plasma mean: 0.03 (range 0.02–0.07) ()
Urine mean: 0.28 (0.18–0.39) ()
Sweat mean: 5.7 (0.36–36) ()

Omokhodion and Howard, 1994 [30]UK
15 healthy participants
Sweat collected using modified arm bag (hand excluded)
Participants exercised at room temperature
Cadmium detected in 13 sweat samples
Mean 1.9
Range 1.1–3.1

Stauber and Florence, 1988 [28]Australia
24 males
13 females taking oral contraceptives
26 females not taking oral contraceptives
Forearm sweat induced by pilocarpine iontophoresis and collected on a membrane filterMales mean sweat cadmium 1.4 (range <0.5–10)
Females not taking contraceptives 2.6 (<0.5–18)
Females taking contraceptives 2.4 (<0.5–5.5)

Stauber and Florence, 1987 [22]Australia
9 males
7 females taking oral contraceptives
6 not taking oral contraceptives (unclear overlap with 1988 participants)
Forearm sweat induced by pilocarpine iontophoresis and collected on a membrane filterCadmium not detected in sweat (0.5 detection limit)
Mean blood cadmium 0.8

Robinson and Weiss, 1980 [31]USA
28 males (university faculty members)
Exercise and shower preceded sauna for sweat collection. Sweat collected as drips from forehead or noseSweat cadmium (range 11–200)
Urine cadmium (range ND–67)
Sweat/urine ratio (range 1.0–16)
No correlation between the concentrations in urine and sweat

Robinson and Weiss, 1980 [32] (companion to previous)USA
2 males (university faculty members)
As previous, cadmium also measured in hair segments.Daily excretion of cadmium estimated as follows:
(i) 30 μg/day in urine
(ii) 120 μg/day in sweat
(iii) 0.2 μg/day in hair
Cadmium concentrations in hair and sweat were lower in one participant than the other

Cohn and Emmett, 1978 [33]USA
6 males
3 females
Total body washdown and arm bag techniquesMean concentration of cadmium in sweat > urine
Arm bags yielded lower levels than whole body measurements