Monitoring and health risk assessment of fluoride in drinking water of East Azerbaijan Province, Iran

The amount of fluoride in drinking water sources is very important for public health. This study was conducted to evaluate the fluoride concentration in drinking water and compare the results with national and international standards, health risk assessment in non-cancerous diseases in East Azerbaijan province. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 20 large cities of East Azerbaijan province (West North of Iran) in warm (spring and summer) and cold (autumn and winter) seasons in 2017-2018.The results showed that the mean fluoride concentration in drinking water during cold and warm seasons was variable in the range of 0.19-0.65 and 0.18-0.62 mg/L, respectively. The Fluoride concentration in 80% of samples was lower than the standards. Also, the fluoride concentration in drinking water of studied cities was lower than calculated optimum concentration by Galagan and Vermillion equation. The estimated daily intake of fluoride (EDI) for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 3.06, 2.15, 12 and 12.5 mu g/kg/day, respectively. The hazard quotient (HQ) values for four age groups (infants, children, teenagers, and adults) for both seasons were lower than 1.Fluoridation and adjusting its concentrations in drinking water could be useful to compensate for its deficiency and prevent tooth decay. Based on the results, the non-carcinogenic risks of fluoride for the four exposed populations were below the safe limit.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the fluoride concentration in drinking water in East Azerbaijan province and found that most samples had a lower concentration than the standards. The fluoride concentration in the studied cities was also lower than the calculated optimum concentration. Although the estimated daily intake of fluoride exceeded the safe limit, the non-carcinogenic risks were still below the safe limit.