Measuring Heavy Metals in Colon Cancer Patients: Discrimination Capacity

Abstract

Based on the findings of the study examining the relationship between lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) concentrations and colon cancer, a significant increase in lead levels was observed in patients compared to the control group. This suggests a strong correlation between the disease and lead accumulation, ultimately indicating a clear contribution of the work environment to increased lead levels in exposed individuals. The benefit of lead which is considered highly reliable lies in its use as a patient biomarker, where it is employed in monitoring and assessing health risks. Nonparametric tests, ROC curve analysis, and logistic regression have indicated that this element exhibits good diagnostic performance with an acceptable area under the curve (AUC). Unlike lead, cadmium showed poor diagnostic performance due to the small and insignificant difference between the patient and control groups. Therefore, cadmium is not a reliable biomarker under the conditions of this study due to the lack of statistically significant correlation. Elevated lead levels, as revealed by gender-based analysis, were consistent in both males and females. Furthermore, no statistically significant interaction was found, indicating that demographic variables don’t play a significant role in influencing lead levels. Based on these findings, lead appears to be a sensitive and reliable biomarker for colon cancer, while cadmium has limited significance in this context. The results underscore the importance of ongoing monitoring and preventive measures to mitigate