Cadmium, Blood
Measures cadmium, a toxic metal, in whole blood. It mostly reflects recent exposure, and smoking is the most common reason for a higher result.
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewAlso called CdB, Cd-BLOINC 5609-3
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What it is
Cadmium is a metal found in small amounts in soil, food and tobacco smoke. It is also used in some batteries, pigments and metal plating. Your body absorbs a little of what you eat or breathe and holds on to it for decades. This test measures the cadmium in your blood at the time of the draw. It mostly reflects exposure over the recent past, not the total stored in your body. Urine cadmium is usually the better test of long-term build-up.
Why it matters
Over many years, extra cadmium can strain the kidneys and is linked to weaker bones. Cancer-research agencies also classify cadmium as a human carcinogen, which is another reason to lower avoidable exposure. Most people have low levels. Smoking roughly doubles the amount of cadmium stored in the body, and some jobs add more. Testing can help find where extra cadmium is coming from so that exposure can be lowered.
If it’s high
A result above your lab's limit means more cadmium than usual has entered your body recently. It does not by itself show that you have been harmed. Smoking is the most common reason. Food, certain jobs and a contaminated sample tube can also raise it. Your clinician can help find the source and decide whether your kidneys should be checked.
Common causes
- Smoking tobacco (smoking roughly doubles the cadmium stored in the body)
- Everyday foods that naturally contain cadmium, such as grains, potatoes, leafy greens, peanuts, soybeans, sunflower seeds, shellfish and organ meats like liver and kidney
- Low iron stores, which let the gut absorb more cadmium
- Reduced kidney function, which can raise blood levels
- Work with nickel-cadmium batteries, pigments, metal plating or smelting
- Living in an area with cadmium-polluted soil or water
- A sample drawn into a tube that was not certified trace-element-free
What can help
- If you smoke, ask your clinician about support to quit
- If you work with cadmium, ask your employer or occupational health team about protective equipment and monitoring
- Ask whether your iron level and kidney function should be checked
- If contamination is possible, ask about repeating the test with a trace-element-free tube
Usual ranges
What labs print as the reference range, by who was tested. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.
For adults: up to 5 µg/L. Source: ARUP Laboratories, Mayo Clinic Laboratories (catalog mirrored at testcatalog.org), U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry).
- Adults (this one applies)up to 5 µg/L
Sources: ARUP Laboratories, Mayo Clinic Laboratories (catalog mirrored at testcatalog.org), U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)
See Cadmium (Blood) by age and sex, with the U.S. survey numbers where they exist.
How common is your level?
NHANES describes the US civilian, non-institutionalized population, not a 'healthy' reference group. People with disease, on medication, fasting or not (except fasting-subsample markers), smokers and so on are all included. A percentile says where a value sits among Americans of that sex and age, not whether it is normal.
Use the left and right arrow keys to read each age. Shift moves five years.
Reference data derived from CDC/NCHS National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), cycles 2015-2016, 2017-March 2020 (pre-pandemic), August 2021-August 2023. Analysis by bloodtesttracker.com; not endorsed by CDC, NCHS or HHS.
Explore Cadmium (Blood) by age and sex: every percentile as a table, with a download.
What can affect your result
- Smoking: smokers usually have clearly higher blood cadmium than non-smokers
- Diet, especially shellfish, organ meats and plant foods grown in cadmium-rich soil
- Iron stores: low iron lets the gut absorb more cadmium
- Kidney function: reduced kidney function can raise blood cadmium
- Work and where you live
- Sample contamination from tubes or collection materials that are not trace-element-free
- Recent gadolinium or iodine contrast dye (Mayo asks you to wait 96 hours)
- A tube or collection step that is not trace-element-free can add cadmium to the sample. ARUP suggests repeating an unexpectedly high result with a certified trace-element-free tube.
- Gadolinium or iodine contrast dye can interfere with this kind of metal test. Mayo advises waiting 96 hours after a dose before collecting blood.
- ARUP notes that diet, medicines and supplements can introduce interfering substances. It asks that nonessential ones be paused only on your doctor's advice.
Reflects recent exposure more than the amount stored in your body. The body clears stored cadmium very slowly (about 20 to 30 years to lose half), which is why urine is used for the long-term picture.
When to talk to a clinician
Talk with your clinician if your result is above your lab's limit (usually 5 µg/L), and sooner if you work with cadmium. Get medical care right away if you breathed in fumes or dust from heated or welded cadmium-containing metal and now have cough, chest tightness, shortness of breath or fever. If you may have swallowed a large amount, call Poison Control (1-800-222-1222 in the US). Lab limits for this test are not emergency thresholds.
Questions you could ask
- If my exposure continues, how often should this be rechecked?
- Could smoking, my diet or my job explain this result?
- Should we check urine cadmium and a kidney test, such as eGFR and urine protein?
- Should we repeat the test in a trace-element-free tube to be sure?
Questions people ask
Why is my lab's limit 5 when most people are under 2?
Many labs set this limit with toxicity and workplace safety in mind, so it sits well above what most people have. In a US government survey (NHANES 2017-2018), about 95 in 100 adults were below about 1.4 µg/L. A result between those two numbers can still be worth a conversation, especially if there is a known source such as smoking.
Should I get a blood or a urine cadmium test?
Blood mostly shows recent exposure. Urine shows what has built up over years, so urine (often per gram of creatinine) is usually the better test for long-term exposure. Some clinicians order both, especially for workplace monitoring.
Does vaping raise cadmium?
In one study of people who had switched from cigarettes, those who only vaped had much lower blood cadmium (about 0.4 µg/L on average) than people who still smoked cigarettes (about 1.4 µg/L). Cigarette smoke is the main tobacco-related source of cadmium.
Show the science and sources
Units
- 1 µg/L = 1 µg/L
- 1 µg/L = 1 ng/mL
- 1 µg/L = 8.896 nmol/L
Open the Cadmium (Blood) unit converter
For clinicians and researchers
Whole-blood cadmium is measured by ICP-MS (ARUP) or ICP-MS/MS (Mayo) in trace-element-free EDTA or heparin tubes. Blood cadmium principally reflects recent exposure rather than whole-body burden, and the whole-body half-time is estimated at 20 to 30 years. Urine cadmium (per gram of creatinine) is the preferred marker of body burden, and ARUP prefers blood for acute exposure. At a constant absorption rate, blood cadmium also rises as GFR falls, so blood cadmium versus kidney outcomes can be biased by reverse causation. ATSDR's draft profile reports NHANES 2017-2018 adults (20 years and older) at a geometric mean of 0.295 µg/L, median 0.27, 90th percentile 0.95 and 95th percentile 1.44 µg/L. It notes environmental exposure can push blood cadmium above 10 µg/L, and inhalation-exposed workers can reach about 50 µg/L. In one study of people who had switched from cigarettes, those using only e-cigarettes had a geometric mean blood cadmium of about 0.44 µg/L versus about 1.44 µg/L in people still smoking cigarettes. OSHA's cadmium standard (29 CFR 1910.1027) uses 5 µg/L whole blood as the initial and continuing biological-monitoring level and 15 µg/L as a higher trigger, alongside urine cadmium and urine beta-2-microglobulin, with 10 µg/L used in the alternative post-1999 scheme. The 5 µg/L limit printed by ARUP and Mayo matches the OSHA level and sits well above the general-population 95th percentile, so it works as a toxicity and workplace screen rather than a population interval. IARC classifies cadmium and cadmium compounds as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1).
LOINC 5609-3 (primary), 15117-5. Specimen: whole-blood.
Sources
- Cadmium, Whole Blood (ARUP test code 0099675), ARUP Laboratories
- Heavy Metals Screen with Demographics, Blood (Mayo test HMDB, cadmium result CDB), Mayo Clinic Laboratories (catalog mirrored at testcatalog.org)
- Toxicological Profile for Cadmium (Draft for Public Comment), Chapter 3: Toxicokinetics, Susceptible Populations, Biomarkers, Chemical Interactions, ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) (2025)
- Toxicological Profile for Cadmium (Draft for Public Comment), Chapter 5: Potential for Human Exposure, ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) (2025)
- Toxicological Profile for Cadmium (Draft for Public Comment), Chapter 2: Health Effects, ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) (2025)
- 29 CFR 1910.1027, Cadmium (medical surveillance: biological monitoring levels), U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Cadmium (PubChem compound 23973), PubChem, National Library of Medicine
AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. How we build and check these pages.