Aluminium and fluoride in drinking water in relation to later dementia risk

Citation

Russ TC, Killin LOJ, Hannah J, Batty GD, Deary IJ & Starr JM (2020) Aluminium and fluoride in drinking water in relation to later dementia risk. British Journal of Psychiatry, 216 (1), pp. 29-34. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2018.287

Abstract
Background Environmental risk factors for dementia are poorly understood. Aluminium and fluorine in drinking water have been linked with dementia but uncertainties remain about this relationship. Aims In the largest longitudinal study in this context, we set out to explore the individual effect of aluminium and fluoride in drinking water on dementia risk and, as fluorine can increase absorption of aluminium, we also examine any synergistic influence on dementia. Method We used Cox models to investigate the association between mean aluminium and fluoride levels in drinking water at their residential location (collected 2005–2012 by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland) with dementia in members of the Scottish Mental Survey 1932 cohort who were alive in 2005. Results A total of 1972 out of 6990 individuals developed dementia by the linkage date in 2012. Dementia risk was raised with increasing mean aluminium levels in women (hazard ratio per s.d. increase 1.09, 95% CI 1.03–1.15, P < 0.001) and men (1.12, 95% CI 1.03–1.21, P = 0.004). A dose-response pattern of association was observed between mean fluoride levels and dementia in women (1.34, 95% CI 1.28–1.41, P < 0.001) and men (1.30, 95% CI 1.22–1.39, P < 0.001), with dementia risk more than doubled in the highest quartile compared with the lowest. There was no statistical interaction between aluminium and fluoride levels in relation with dementia. Conclusions Higher levels of aluminium and fluoride were related to dementia risk in a population of men and women who consumed relatively low drinking-water levels of both.

Keywords
Dementia; epidemiology; neuropathology

Journal
British Journal of Psychiatry: Volume 216, Issue 1