Fluoride exposure and prevalence of osteochondroma in drinking water Endemic fluorosis areas of Heilongjiang Province, China: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

To investigate the relationship between fluoride exposure and Osteochondroma (OC) prevalence, a cross-sectional study was conducted in drinking water endemic fluorosis areas of Heilongjiang Province, China. Our study first reported that the prevalence of OC was 2.3% in drinking water endemic fluorosis areas of Heilongjiang Province, China, and no difference in gender. Logistic regression analysis found that compared to 1^st quartile participants, the prevalence of OC was 73% lower in the 2^nd quartile participants of WF (Water fluoride), and 3.4 times higher among the 2^nd quartile UF (Urinary fluoride) participants. Our study suggests that 0.259–0.420 mg/L of WF may be considered an appropriate level for reducing OC prevalence, while UF (≥0.750 mg/L) could slightly increase the prevalence of OC. In summary, the link between fluoride and OC prevalence is complicated and needs to be further investigated in a cohort population.

KEYWORDS:

• Fluoride
• fluorosis
• osteochondroma (OC)
• exostosis
• cross-sectional study

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thank the radiological unit of the Second affiliated hospital outpatient department of Harbin Medical University for their strong support in the diagnosis of OC. Also, we sincerely thank Mr. Alphonse Sowanou and Mrs. Gazala Zafar, who gave us great support in methodology, formal analysis, and writing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Yongzheng Ma: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing – original draft. Liu Yang: Investigation. Liu Xiaona: Investigation. Li Mang: Investigation. Cui Jing: Investigation. Zhizhong Guan: Supervision, Resources, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Junrui Pei: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Yanhui Gao: Conceptualization, Supervision, Resources, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

Data availability statement

Due to privacy concerns of the participants in the follow-up phase, the datasets created and/or analyzed during this study are not publicly available. However, upon reasonable request, these can be obtained from the associated authors.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study involving participants was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Harbin Medical University (Approved Number: HMUIRB20120021). Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants or the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2277336

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2022YFC2503000) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (82273749, 81773468, and No. U1812403).