Insulin Resistance Is Associated with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in a Danish Population-Based Study-DanFunD.

Anne A Bjerregaard,Marie W Petersen,Niklas R Jørgensen,José G Cedeño-Laurent,Torben Jørgensen,Lise Kirstine Gormsen,Allan Linneberg,Sine Skovbjerg,Thomas M Dantoft

doi:10.3390/ijerph182312654

Abstract

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a multisystem syndrome, and limited knowledge of its pathophysiology exists. Based on the population-based Danish cohort DanFunD, this study investigated metabolic health in people with MCS compared to individuals who did not have MCS. From 9656 cohort participants aged 18–76 years old, 1.95% were categorized as MCS individuals with comorbid functional somatic disorders (MCS + FSD, n = 188), and 1.13% were categorized as MCS without functional somatic disorders (MCS ÷ FSD, n = 109). MCS was characterized based on three criteria: the experience of symptoms upon exposure to common odors and airborne chemicals, symptoms related the central nervous systems and others organ symptoms, and significant impact on every day, social, and occupational life. The remaining study population without MCS or any other functional somatic disorders were regarded as controls. We used adjusted multiple linear regression with link-function to evaluate the associations between lipid and glucose metabolism markers and MCS. We also tested the odds ratio of metabolic syndrome in MCS. Results did not point to statistically significant associations between lipid biomarkers or metabolic syndrome and both MCS groups compared to the controls. We found that MCS individuals may be more insulin resistant and that MCS ÷ FSD may have an impaired glucose metabolism when compared to controls.

Highlights

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a multisystem syndrome that affects between0.5–6.5% of the population [1,2,3,4,5]
MCS + functional somatic disorder (FSD) and MCS ÷ FSD, a higher proportion of the participants was women compared to the controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.03), and the participants in the MCS ÷ FSD group were slightly older than the controls on average (p = 0.04)
We found that MCS ÷ FSD had elevated glucose and insulin levels, had higher long-term blood glucose, and were more insulin resistant compared to the controls

Summary

Introduction

Multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is a multisystem syndrome that affects between. 0.5–6.5% of the population [1,2,3,4,5]. MCS is characterized as a functional somatic disorder (FSD), with individuals experiencing a wide range of symptoms that are attributed to airborne chemical exposures that most people consider benign. MCS patients often experience symptoms that are related to the central nervous system (CNS), e.g., headache, fatigue, nausea, or other physical reactions often involving several organ systems, e.g., the.

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