Blood cadmium is associated with increased fracture risk in never-smokers - results from a case-control study using data from the Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort

•Cadmium exposure increases the risk of fractures, but the size of the risk is still unclear•Proper adjustment for smoking has been a challenge in most studies•In this large study in never-smokers, we found a significantly increased fracture risk (OR 1.6) per μg/L of blood cadmium•Even modestly increased blood cadmium in never-smokers is associated with increased risk of osteoporosis-related fractures