Abstract

For the past 45 years, there has been a great deal of debate regarding the health issues surrounding the fluoridation of public water supplies. In order to assess the association between fluoridation and hip fracture, we identified 129 counties across the United States considered to be exposed to public water fluoridation and 194 counties without exposure. Data from the Health Care Financing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs were used to calculate the incidence of hip fracture among white persons, aged 65 years or older, in fluoridated and nonfluoridated counties. There was a small statistically significant positive association between fracture rates and fluoridation. The relative risk (95% confidence interval) of fracture in fluoridated counties compared to nonfluoridated counties was 1.08 (1.06 to 1.10) for women and 1.17 (1.13 to 1.22) for men. As comparisons were made at the grouped level, it may be inappropriate at this time to draw inferences at the individual level. The relationship observed at the county level needs to be duplicated at the individual level with more precise measures of fluoride exposure.

• Related Studies :

  • Water fluoridation and osteoporotic fracture.

    Osteoporotic fractures constitute a major public health problem. These fractures typically occur at the hip, spine and distal forearm. Their pathogenesis is heterogeneous, with contributions from both bone strength and trauma. Water fluoridation has been widely proposed for its dental health benefits, but concerns have been raised about the balance

  • Effects of dialysate calcium and fluoride on bone disease during regular hemodialysis

    A previous study indicated that, in patients maintained by hemodialysis, clinically and roentgenographically apparent bone disease appeared almost exclusively when the dialystate calcium concentration was less than 5.7 mg per 100 ml. In the present study, bone biopsy specimens from the iliac crest were studied at the beginning and end

  • Hip fracture incidence not affected by fluoridation. Osteofluorosis studied in Finland

    Iliac crest biopsies were taken from patients with hip fracture from a low-fluoride area (less than 0.3 ppm), from an area with fluoridated drinking water (1.0-1.2 ppm), and from a high-fluoride area (greater than 1.5 ppm). Fluoride content analysis and histomorphometry of bone were performed. The hip fracture incidence during

  • Total knee arthroplasty in a patient with skeletal fluorosis

    Published reports on patients with skeletal fluorosis undergoing total knee arthroplasty are rare. Skeletal fluorosis is a chronic condition that occurs secondary to the ingestion of food and water that contain high levels of fluoride. Although fluorosis may be described as osteosclerotic and marble-like in appearance, features may also include

  • [Generalized osteopathy with pathological fractures in a patient with long-term exposure to fluorine-containing plastics].

    In a 68-year-old man with a painful syndrome of the lower extremities which began at the age of 64 years, workup revealed a generalized osteopathy with sclerosis of the axial skeleton and osteopenia at the extremities associated with pathologic fractures. The occupational history showed exposure to several synthetics such as

• Related FAN Content :

  • Fluoride & Spontaneous Hip Fractures in Osteoporosis Patients

    Due to its ability to increase vertebral bone mass, fluoride has been used as an experimental treatment for osteoporosis (doses > 20 mg/day). Fluoride treatment, however, proved far more harmful than beneficial. Not only was fluoride therapy shown to increase fracture rates among the treated patients, it was also found to

  • Clinical Trials: Fluoride Treatment & Bone Fracture in Osteoporosis Patients

    Due to its ability to increase bone mass, fluoride has been used as an experimental treatment for osteoporosis. The results, however, have generally been disastrous. Rather than prevent bone fractures in osteoporosis patients, fluoride therapy (at doses of 20-34 mg/day) was repeatedly found to increase fracture rates. One of the most

  • Fluoride Content of Bone Impairs Bone Quality

      Water Fluoridation Increases the Fluoride Content of Bone "Fluoride analyses of the cadaver material from Kuopio revealed that fluoridation of drinking water increases the fluoride concentration in bone. In some individual cases the amount of fluoride in trabecular bone may rise to relatively high levels, notably in patients with impaired renal

  • Skeletal Fluorosis: The Misdiagnosis Problem

    It is a virtual certainty that there are individuals in the general population unknowingly suffering from some form of skeletal fluorosis as a result of a doctor's failure to consider fluoride as a cause of their symptoms. Proof that this is the case can be found in the following case reports of skeletal fluorosis written by doctors in the U.S. and other western countries. As can be seen, a consistent feature of these reports is that fluorosis patients--even those with crippling skeletal fluorosis--are misdiagnosed for years by multiple teams of doctors who routinely fail to consider fluoride as a possible cause of their disease.

  • Fluoride Reduces Bone Strength in Animals

    Most animal studies investigating how fluoride effects bone strength have found either a detrimental effect, or no effect. Few animal studies have found a beneficial effect. In fact, one of the few studies that found a beneficial effect was unable to be repeated by the same authors in a later