ACUTE GLOMERULONEPHRITIS, HENOCH-SCHONLEIN PURPURA AND DENTAL AMALGAMIN SWEDISH CHILDREN - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

The issue of adverse health effects from dental amalgam and the concur rent low-dose exposure to inorganic mercury have been scrutinized by s everal Swedish expert groups during the past years. Only rarely have a malgam fillings in children been related to health effects. Experiment al studies in genetically disposed animals have shown that low doses o f inorganic mercury can induce autoimmune glomerulonephritis. The pres ent case-control study included 31 children with acute glomerulonephri tis and 33 with Henoch-Schonlein purpura retrieved from an in-patient register for the period 1973-1992 at the county hospital in Halmstad, Sweden. The median age was 10 and 9 years, respectively, for the two d iagnostic groups. Dental clinics reported amalgam burden of the patien ts during the year before the date of diagnosis. Corresponding data we re obtained for three randomly selected controls for each case, drawn from the case records of the same dental clinics, with matching for ag e and sex. Odds ratios (95% confidence interval) were 1.42 (0.49, 4.11 ) for Henoch-Schonlein purpura, 0.59 (0.25, 1.38) for acute glomerulon ephritis and 0.84 (0.40, 1.75) for both diseases combined. The results of this study did not indicate increased disease risk in relation to amalgam burden.