Environmental Sensitivities: Prevalence of Major Symptoms in a Referral Center: The Nova Scotia Environmental Sensitivities Research Center Study

Environmental Health Perspectives, Feb, 2001 by Michel R. Joffres, Tim Williams, Brenda Sabo, Roy A. Fox

Table 2 presents the proportion of all respondents who have the 15 most common symptoms and how each symptom ranks compared with the others, between each sex. The most common 15 symptoms that occur after an exposure are also presented in the same table. Symptoms occurring after the start of illness that may or may not be related by the patient to some identified exposure are noted under "in general," compared to symptoms occurring after an identified environmental exposure ("after exposure").

Ranking of these symptoms does not vary greatly by sex. Ranking of "trouble finding right words" was higher in women (8th) than in men (24th) and "stuffy or full sinuses" was ranked higher in men (6th) than in women (21st). Although general symptoms had dominated the overall prevalence of symptoms since the beginning of their illness, those related to irritation were more common after exposure. Although ranking of the first three symptoms was identical in men and women, women ranked "hoarse/loss of voice" higher than men (5th vs. 36th). "Forgetful/poor memory," "tight chest," and "trouble finding right words" also ranked higher in women than in men (7th vs. 26th, 8th vs. 22nd, and 10th vs. 31st respectively) while men ranked "usual odors sickening" and "irritability" higher than women (7th vs. 12th and 6th vs. 20th respectively).

Table 2. Prevalence of the top 15 symptoms reported since start
of illness and ranked by sex among individuals with ES.

                                     Both        Males       Females

Symptoms                            %   Rank    %   Rank    %   Rank

In general
 Difficulty concentrating          95      1   90      1   96      2
 Fatigue, very tired,              95      2   87      3   97      1
  without energy
 Tiredness not relieved by         92      3   84      5   94      3
  rest or sleep
 Sneezing/runny or congested       91      4   90      2   92      5
  nose without a cold
 Forgetfulness/poor memory         90      5   80      9   93      4
 Irritability                      90      6   85      4   91      6
 Other headache                    88      7   79     10   90      7
 Itchy eye(s)                      88      8   81      8   90      9
 Trouble finding the right words   86      9   70     24   90      8
 Need to clear throat              85     10   83      7   86     12
 Difficulty making decisions       84     11   73     16   87     11
 Stuffy or full sinuses            83     12   84      6   82     21
 Muscle pain or ache not           83     13   79     11   94     17
  related to over exercise
 Stiffness in muscles or joints    83     14   75     13   84     15
 Feeling light-headed              82     15   71     18   85     13
After exposure
 Sneezing/runny or congested       66      1   60      1   68      1
  nose without a cold
 Itchy eye(s)                      64      2   59      2   65      2
 Difficulty concentrating          54      3   47      3   56      3
 Other headache                    52      4   41      8   54      4
 Burning eye(s)                    50      5   46      4   52      6
 Hoarse or loss of voice           49      6   29     36   54      5
 Stuffy or full sinuses            46      7   44      5   47      9
 Forgetfulness/poor memory         46      8   33     26   49      7
 Tight chest                       45      9   34     22   48      8
 Usually acceptable odors          44     10   41      7   45     12
  were sickening
 Fatigue, very tired,              43     11   40      9   44     15
  without energy
 Difficulty making decisions       43     12   34     20   45     11
 Trouble finding the right words   43     13   31     31   46     10
 Irritability                      43     14   43      6   43     20
 Feeling light-headed              43     15   37     11   44     14

"Both" includes males and females; % indicates percent of
patients having the symptom; and "rank" is the rank of each
symptom compared with all other symptoms.