Investigation on the prevention and control of endemic fluorosis in the southwestern area of Shandong province in 2007 / 中国地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To understand the current status of the prevention and control of endemic fluorosis in the southwestern area of Shandong province. Methods In 2007, the progress of water-improving defluoridation, the operating state and water fluoride content of the water-improving project, which was determined by fluorosis selective ion electrode, and the inhabitant related indexes of endemic fluorosis were extensively surveyed in the three main fluorosis counties-Jiaxiang, Yuncbeng and Liangshan of the southwestern area of Shandong province. Results Among 1371 fluorosis villages in the 3 counties, 53.61%(735/1371) of which had undergone water-improving defluoridation, the rate in Jiaxiang, Yuncheng and Liangshan being 38.0% (220/579),65.51% (378/577) and 63.72% ( 137/215 ) respectively; the normally functioning rate of this project was 76.73% (564/735), projects out of order accounted for 23.27% (171/735). Among 263 well-functioning projects from the three counties, the rate with water fluoride higher than 1.0 mg/L was 35.36%(93/263), the maximum value being 4.17 mg/L. The urine fluoride content of 440 children aged 8 - 12 years and 484 adults over 30 years old were examined in 13 fluorosis villages of the three counties, the geometric mean was 2.98,3.06 mg/L respectively; the individual maximum was 12.83,14.49 mg/L respectively; the detectable rate of dental fluorosis among children aged 8 - 12 was 84.28% (649/770) ,17.66%(136/770) had defect and the index of dental fluorosis was 1.89; the rates of the clinical and X-ray skeletal fluorosis of the adults aged more than 30 were 44.40%(234/527) and 24.67%(130/527) respectively, and the abnormal electrocardiography rate was 32.43% (168/518) in the adult, mostly T-wave abnormality. Conclusions The progress of the water-improving defluoridation in the southwestern area of Shandong province was relatively slow, the water fluoride content of the water-improving projects seriously exceeded standard, and the condition of the fluorosis had not been effectively controlled.