The German Multicentre Study on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Dieter Eis - , Robert Koch-Institut, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Dieter Helm - , Robert Koch-Institut (Author)
  • Tilman Mühlinghaus - , Robert Koch-Institut, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Norbert Birkner - , Robert Koch-Institut (Author)
  • Anne Dietel - , Robert Koch-Institut, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Thomas Eikmann - , Justus Liebig University Giessen (Author)
  • Uwe Gieler - , Justus Liebig University Giessen (Author)
  • Caroline Herr - , Justus Liebig University Giessen (Author)
  • Michael Lacour - , University of Freiburg (Author)
  • Dennis Nowak - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Francisco Pedrosa Gil - , Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Klaus Podoll - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Bertold Renner - , Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • G.A. Wiesmüller - , RWTH Aachen University (Author)
  • Margitta Worm - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)

Abstract

In this multicentre study on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) 291 consecutive environmental medicine (EM) outpatients were examined in several environmental medicine outpatient centres/units throughout Germany in 2000/2003. Of the EM outpatients, 89 were male (30.6%) and 202 were female (69.4%), aged 22-80 (mean 48 years, S.D.=12 years). The sample was representative for university-based environmental outpatient departments and represented a cross-sectional study design with an integrated clinical-based case-control comparison (MCS vs. non-MCS). Three classifications of MCS were used: self-reported MCS (sMCS), clinically diagnosed MCS (cMCS), and formalised computer-assisted MCS with two variants (f1MCS, f2MCS). Data were collected by means of an environmental medicine questionnaire, psychosocial questionnaires, the German version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), and a medical baseline documentation, as well as special examinations in partial projects on olfaction and genetic susceptibility markers. The hypothesis guided evaluation of the project showed that the patients' heterogenic health complaints did not indicate a characteristic set of symptoms for MCS. No systematic connection could be observed between complaints and the triggers implicated, nor was there any evidence for a genetic predisposition, or obvious disturbances of the olfactory system. The standardised psychiatric diagnostics applying CIDI demonstrated that the EM patients in general and the subgroup with MCS in particular suffered more often from mental disorders compared to an age and gender matched sample of the general population and that in most patients these disorders commenced many years before environment-related health complaints. Our results do not support the assumption of a toxicogenic-somatic basis of the MCS phenomenon. In contrast, numerous indicators for the relevance of behavioural accentuations, psychic alterations or psychosomatic impairments were found in the group of EM-outpatients with subjective "environmental illness".

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)658-681
Number of pages24
JournalInternational journal of hygiene and environmental health
Volume211
Issue number5-6
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2008
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 18502687
ORCID /0000-0003-0845-6793/work/139025229

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

  • CIDI, Environmental illness, IEI, MCS, Multicentre study, SCL-90-R