Sex differences in the link between blood cobalt concentrations and insulin resistance in adults without diabetes

BACKGROUND@#Little is known about the effects of environmental cobalt exposure on insulin resistance (IR) in the general adult population. We investigated the association between cobalt concentration and IR.@*METHODS@#A total of 1281 subjects aged more than 20 years with complete blood cobalt data were identified from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 cycle. Blood cobalt levels were analyzed for their association with IR among all populations and subgroups by sex. Regression coefficients and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of blood cobalt concentrations in association with fasting glucose, insulin and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were estimated using multivariate linear regression after adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, alcohol consumption, body mass index, education level, and household income. A multivariate generalized linear regression analysis was further carried out to explore the association between cobalt exposure and IR.@*RESULTS@#A negative association between blood cobalt concentration (coefficient = - 0.125, 95% CI - 0.234, - 0.015; P = 0.026) and HOMA-IR in female adults in the age- and sex-adjusted model was observed. However, no associations with HOMA-IR, fasting glucose, or insulin were found in the overall population. In the generalized linear models, participants with the lowest cobalt levels had a 2.74% (95% CI 0.04%, 5.50%) increase in HOMA-IR (P for trend = 0.031) compared with subjects with the highest cobalt levels. Restricted cubic spline regression suggested that a non-linear relationship may exist between blood cobalt and HOMA-IR.@*CONCLUSIONS@#These results provide epidemiological evidence that low levels of blood cobalt are negatively associated with HOMA-IR in female adults.

Hip-implant related chorio-retinal cobalt toxicity.

A 39-year-old female with elevated serum cobalt levels from her bilateral hip prostheses presented with a 3-week history of blurred vision in her left eye. Optical coherence tomography revealed patchy degeneration of the photoreceptor-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) complex. The lesions were hypofluorescent on indocyanine green angiography. We postulate that this is a case of implant-related chorio-retinal cobalt toxicity.

Variations in plasma trace-elements concentration during fracture healing in dogs.

The study was conducted on healthy Mongrel dogs. Fracture of Radius Ulna was inflicted with wire-saw. Subsequently repair was carried out using bone plates. Plasma Zinc concentrations decreased significantly from control values of 317.71 to 294.92 micrograms/dl at day one post-operatively and the values reached basal levels by 21st day. The concentrations of plasma Copper, Cobalt and Iron continued to decrease during the post-operative period. However, Manganese concentration increased significantly during the corresponding post operative period. Results indicate withdrawal of minerals from body reserves during bone repair.