Association between fluoride exposure and blood pressure

OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether fluoride was associated with an increased prevalence of high blood pressure (BP) among adolescents in the United States. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants aged 13–17 years. Independent-samples t-tests, Chi-square tests, and regression models were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: A total of 814 participants met the study criteria. The findings showed that the proportion of patients with high levels of water or plasma fluoride in the high BP group was higher than that in the normal BP group. However, after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, neither water nor plasma fluoride levels were significantly associated with a high BP. CONCLUSIONS: This study did not find an association between either water or plasma fluoride levels and high BP. Further study is needed to exclude a dose dependent effect at higher levels of fluoride.