Lamberg M, Hausen H, Vartiainen T
Department of Otolaryngology, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1997 Aug;25(4):291-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1997.tb00942.x.
Fluoridation of water is a controversial measure because of the suspicion that it has harmful effects on health. Opinions differ as to the reality of these fears. In Kuopio, after distressing disputes over the fluoridation issue, the City Council decided to stop fluoridation at the end of 1992. In fact, however, it was discontinued at the end of November, one month early, without the public being told. The aim of this study was to find out whether the occurrence of 25 selected symptoms was connected with exposure to fluoridated water. In order to do this we compared the prevalence of symptoms during the months before and after the undisclosed cessation of fluoridation and after the cessation had been officially announced. Postal inquiries concerning symptoms were sent to 1000 randomly selected adults in November, to a further 1000 in December 1992 and again to the same 2000 people in March 1993. The response rates were 40-26%. The percentage of those with two or more symptoms was the same (45%) in November and in December but decreased to 32% in March. The mean number of symptoms per respondent decreased from 1.9 in November to 1.4 in March (P < 0.001) and in December-March from 1.8 to 1.2. The decrease was most significant for symptoms related to the skin. Since the occurrence and mean number of symptoms were fairly similar during actual and supposed fluoridation, the results do not support the theory that the symptoms considered in this study are caused by the physical effect of fluoridated water. On the other hand, the significant reduction in the number of symptoms only after the respondents had become aware of the discontinuation of fluoridation reveals that fluoridation may have psychological effects which present as perceived symptoms.
由于有人怀疑水的氟化处理对健康有有害影响，因此这是一项颇具争议的措施。对于这些担忧是否属实，人们看法不一。在库奥皮奥，围绕水的氟化处理问题发生了令人苦恼的争论之后，市议会决定在1992年底停止氟化处理。然而事实上，它在11月底就提前一个月停止了，且未告知公众。本研究的目的是查明25种选定症状的出现是否与接触含氟水有关。为了做到这一点，我们比较了在未公开停止氟化处理之前和之后的几个月以及正式宣布停止氟化处理之后症状的患病率。1992年11月，就症状问题向1000名随机挑选的成年人发出了邮政问询，12月又向另外1000人发出问询，1993年3月再次向这相同的2000人发出问询。答复率为40% - 26%。有两种或更多症状的人的百分比在11月和12月相同（45%），但在3月降至32%。每位受访者的平均症状数量从11月的1.9个降至3月的1.4个（P < 0.001），在12月至3月期间从1.8个降至1.2个。与皮肤相关的症状减少最为显著。由于在实际氟化处理和假定的氟化处理期间症状的出现情况和平均数量相当相似，因此结果不支持本研究中所考虑的症状是由含氟水的物理作用引起的这一理论。另一方面，仅在受访者意识到氟化处理已停止之后症状数量才显著减少，这表明氟化处理可能具有心理影响，表现为所感觉到的症状。
