The relationship between urinary glyphosate and all-cause and specific-cause mortality: a prospective study

Glyphosate (GLY) is a well-known herbicide with significant applications in both agriculture and non-agriculture. However, GLY overuse in recent years has resulted in detection of GLY residues in many crops, endangering human health and food safety. Our aim is to investigate the relationship between urinary GLY and mortality, as well as its influencing factors. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 4740 American adults were examined. Fitted smooth curves, generalized summation models, and multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationship between urinary GLY and mortality. To investigate potential regulatory elements between the two effects, perform subgroup analysis. During a median follow-up of 4.03 years, there were a total of 238 all-cause deaths, 75 cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths and 52 cancer deaths. The urinary GLY is positively correlated with all-cause mortality. Each 1 ng/ml increase in urinary GLY was associated with a 40% increased risk of all-cause mortality (Hazard ratio (HR) 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.80), and an 50% increased risk of all-cause mortality in High group compared with Low group (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.05-2.14). In subgroup analysis, the association between urinary GLY and all-cause mortality was significantly modified by gender (P for interaction = 0.03), and the association between urinary GLY and cancer mortality was significantly modified by hypertension (P for interaction = 0.022). Higher urinary GLY seems to be associated with more all-cause death, and gender may affect this association. Furthermore, urine GLY may have a higher effect on cancer mortality in people without hypertension.