This study adds 2014 data to previous northern Sweden MONICA Study data, providing a comparison of cadmium and lead in the adult population in Norrbotten and Västerbotten over 25 years.

In 2014, lead was determined in whole blood, and cadmium in whole blood and urine. Participants were drawn from a young age group (25-35 years; 84 men and 70 women) and an older age group (50-60 years; 86 men and 93 women). Time trends in blood concentrations of lead and cadmium were presented in young and older men and women 1990-2014 and concentrations in urine 2009-2014 in young men and 2004-2014 in women. Associations between concentrations and lifestyle, mainly dietary factors, were investigated. We examined concentrations of lead in blood with varying consumption of moose meat, which sometimes is contaminated with lead fragments from bullets.

Lead levels have not decreased further after the obvious decrease during the 1990ties. Cadmium is still not decreasing in the population. In the young age group there was even an increase in urinary cadmium 2009-2014. Higher level of lead in blood with moose consumption was only demonstrated in men, raising the question of whether the shooting itself, which is more common in men than in women, may add to lead exposure.

To conclude, there is no decreasing time trend in body burdens of lead and cadmium in this population. This is worrying considering the risk for health effects of these metals in the general population.