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Fluoride exposure and pubertal development in children living in Mexico City
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Fluoride exposure and pubertal development in children living in Mexico City

Yun Liu, Martha Tellez-Rojo, Howard Hu, Brisa N. Sanchez, E. Angeles Martinez-Mier, Niladri Basu, Adriana Mercado-Garcia, Maritsa Solano-Gonzalez and Karen E. Peterson
Environmental health, v 18(1), pp 26-26
29 Mar 2019
PMID: 30922319
url
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12940-019-0465-7View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-019-0465-7View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Environmental Sciences Environmental Sciences & Ecology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology
BackgroundPrevious animal and ecological studies have provided evidence for an earlier sexual maturation in females in relation to fluoride exposure; however, no epidemiological studies have examined the association between fluoride exposure and pubertal development in both boys and girls using individual-level biomarkers of fluoride. Capitalizing on an ongoing Mexican birth cohort study, we examined the association between concurrent urinary fluoride levels and physical markers of pubertal development in children.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of 157 boys and 176 girls at age 10-17years living in Mexico City. We used ion-selective electrode-based diffusion methods to assess fluoride levels in urine, adjusting for urinary specific gravity. Pubertal stages were evaluated by a trained physician. Associations of fluoride with pubertal stages and age at menarche were studied using ordinal regression and Cox proportional-hazard regression, respectively.ResultsIn the entire sample, the geometric mean and interquartile range (IQR) of urinary fluoride (specific gravity adjusted) were 0.59mg/L and 0.31mg/L, respectively. In boys, our analysis showed that a one-IQR increase in urinary fluoride was associated with later pubic hair growth (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.51-0.98, p=0.03) and genital development (OR=0.71, 95% CI: 0.53-0.95, p=0.02). No significant associations were found in girls, although the direction was negative.ConclusionsChildhood fluoride exposure, at the levels observed in our study, was associated with later pubertal development among Mexican boys at age 10-17years. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.

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Domestic collaboration
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Web of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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