Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: This study aimed at determining the level of fluoride in drinking water and urine among secondary school children in Putrajaya and its relationship between both variables.
Method: A cross-sectional study has been conducted for selected secondary school children. A set of questionnaire has been given to the respondents. Also, samples of drinking water used at home and samples of urine has been taken from the respondents.
Result: A total of 67 respondents involved in this study and all of the respondents were 14 years old. A total of 36 of the respondents were male (53.7%) and 31 were female (46.7%). Based on the samples obtained, the reading of fluoride in drinking water was 0.423 ± 0.114 mg/L. For level of fluoride in urine, the reading obtained was 1.626 ± 0.222 mg/L. From the findings, there was no significant difference in urinary fluoride between gender as the p-value obtained was larger than 0.05. When compared the level of fluoride in drinking water with the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ), which was from 0.4 mg/L – 0.6 mg/L, 36 samples (53.73%) were in the optimal range of fluoride in drinking water which was between 0.4 – 0.6 mg/L. About 5 samples (7.46%) exceed the 0.6 mg/L while 26 samples (38.8%) were lower than 0.4 mg/L. When compared the level of fluoride in urine with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) standard, which was from 0.2 mg/L – 3.2 mg/L, all samples were in the optimal range of fluoride in urine. Lastly, there was no significant relationship between level of fluoride in drinking water and urinary fluoride, as the p-value obtained was 0.796 (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: The level of fluoride in drinking water for area of Putrajaya Presint 14 was still in optimal range but the authorities should monitored it regularly because there were some readings that lower or higher than the standard. All of the urine samples were in the optimal range as recommended by NIOSH. Next, the level of fluoride in urine was not related to gender. Besides, this study proved that level of fluoride in drinking water did not contributed to the level of fluoride in urine.