Association between fluoride exposure and behavioural outcomes of school-age children: a pilot study in China

ABSTRACT

To assess the association between fluoride exposure and children’s behavioural outcomes, we recruited 325 resident school-age children (7–13 years old) lived in Tongxu County of Henan Province in China. We measured urinary fluoride (UF) concentrations using the ion-selective electrode method. Children’s behavioural outcomes were assessed by Conners’ Parent Rating Scale-Revised, including conduct problems, learning problems, psychosomatic problems, impulsive-hyperactive, anxiety, and ADHD index. It turned out that each 1.0 mg/L increment in UF concentration corresponded with an elevation in the psychosomatic problem score of 4.01 (95% CI: 2.74, 5.28) and a 97% (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.19, 3.27) increase in the prevalence of psychosomatic problems after adjusting for potential influencing factors. The sensitivity analysis results were consistent with those observed in our preliminary analysis. Our study suggests that fluoride exposure is positively related to the behavioural problem in school-age children, psychosomatic problem in particular.

KEYWORDS:

• Fluoride
• behaviour
• psychosomatic problem
• children

Acknowledgments

We express our sincere thanks to all individuals who volunteered to participate in this study and the numerous doctors and nurses of Kaifeng and Tongxu Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81673116,81972981]; Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province.