Bot Fluoride levels not associated with Osteosarcoma

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The international and American associations for dental research have released in the Journal of Dental Research a study that examined bone fluoride levels in individuals with Osteosarcoma, a rare, primary malignant bone tumor that is more common in men. Since there is controversy about whether there is an association between fluoride and risk of Osteosarcoma, was the aim of this study, entitled "an assessment of bone Fluoride and Osteosarcoma," to determine if bone fluoride levels higher in individuals with Osteosarcoma were.

No significant association between bone fluoride levels and Osteosarcoma risk was discovered in this case-control study, on the basis of controls with other tumor diagnoses.

In the case-control study, by lead researcher Chester Douglass of Harvard University, patients were identified by doctors in the Orthopaedic departments of nine hospitals across the u.s. between 1993 and 2000. In this report, the study sampled incident cases of primary Osteosarcoma and a control group of patients with newly diagnosed malignant bone tumors. Copies of the tumor-adjacent bone and iliac crest bone were analyzed for fluoride content. The study was approved by the institutional review boards of the respective hospitals, Harvard Medical School and the Medical College of Georgia.

Logistic regression of the incident cases of osteosarcoma (N = 137) and tumor controls (N = 51), adjusted for age and sex and potential conflicts of interest of osteosarcoma, was used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). There was no significant difference in bone fluoride levels between cases and controls. The OR adjusted for age, sex, a history of broken bones was 1.33 (95% CI: 0.56-3.15).

"The controversy over the question of whether there is a link between fluoride and risk of Osteosarcoma already since a questionable animal study 20 years ago," said IADR Vice-President Helen Whelton. "Tal of human descriptive and case-control studies have tried to tackle the controversy, but this study of the use of actual bone fluoride concentrations as a direct indicator of fluoride exposure represents our best science so far and shows no link between fluoride in bone and Osteosarcoma risk."

Comments:

The study design was approved by the National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute (NCI), with funds provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and NCI.

Source:
Ingrid L. Thomas
International & American associations for dental research