Abstract
The Quick Environment Exposure Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI(c)) has been used as a questionnaire to evaluate subjective symptoms of patients with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), also known as idiopathic environmental intolerance, in Japan. However, no cutoff value for Japanese subjects has yet been established. We designed this study to establish a cutoff value for Japanese subjects using QEESI(c) for screening of MCS patients. A questionnaire using the QEESI(c) was administered to 103 MCS patients and 309 healthy control subjects matched for age and sex. QEESI(c) scores of the two groups were compared using logistic regression analysis, receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the Mann-Whitney test. Cutoff values for Japanese subjects were determined for the Chemical Intolerance subscale (40), Symptom Severity subscale (20), and Life Impact subscale (10). The subjects whose scores exceeded the cutoff values in any two subscales accounted for 88.4% of the patients but only 14.5% of the controls. Our results suggest that subjects meeting two out of three subscale criteria can be screened as "patients suffering from a low level of environmental chemicals such as MCS" in Japan.
Highlights
IntroductionMultiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is the term most commonly used to describe a disorder which is characterized by a broad array of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms, the cause of which is attributed to exposure to extremely low levels of a wide variety of environmental chemicals [1]
Our results suggest that subjects meeting two out of three subscale criteria can be screened as ‘‘patients suffering from a low level of environmental chemicals such as Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)’’ in Japan
Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is the term most commonly used to describe a disorder which is characterized by a broad array of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms, the cause of which is attributed to exposure to extremely low levels of a wide variety of environmental chemicals [1]
Summary
Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is the term most commonly used to describe a disorder which is characterized by a broad array of physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms, the cause of which is attributed to exposure to extremely low levels of a wide variety of environmental chemicals [1]. MCS, known as idiopathic environmental intolerance (IEI), is a syndrome which progresses to multiple organ dysfunction, mainly involving the autonomic nervous system, with extremely low-level chemical exposure [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. There are at least seven case definitions for MCS, including those of Randolf [11], Cullen [12], Nethercott [13], and the 1999 Consensus in the USA [14], but no case definition has been proven worldwide. Various objections have been raised to each of these different standards, and there is still much room for further debate on this issue
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