Objective

To determine the prevalence of various environmental intolerances (EIs), using several criteria in a Swedish and a Finnish general population. Ill-health attributed to low-level environmental exposures is a commonly encountered challenge in occupational and environmental medicine.

Methods

In population-based questionnaire surveys, the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study (Sweden) and the Österbotten Environmental Health Study (Finland), EI was inquired by one-item questions on symptom attribution to chemicals, certain buildings, or electromagnetic fields (EMFs), and difficulties tolerating sounds. The respondents were asked whether they react with central nervous system (CNS) symptoms or have a physician-diagnosed EI attributed to the corresponding exposures. Prevalence rates were determined for different age and sex groups and the Swedish and Finnish samples in general.

Results

In the Swedish sample (n = 3406), 12.2% had self-reported intolerance to chemicals, 4.8% to certain buildings, 2.7% to EMFs, and 9.2% to sounds. The prevalence rates for the Finnish sample (n = 1535) were 15.2%, 7.2%, 1.6%, and 5.4%, respectively, differing statistically significantly from the Swedish. EI to chemicals and certain buildings was more prevalent in Finland, while EI to EMFs and sounds more prevalent in Sweden. The prevalence rates for EI with CNS-symptoms were lower and physician-diagnosed EIs considerably lower than self-reported EIs. Women reported EI more often than men and the young (18–39 years) to a lesser degree than middle-aged and elderly.

Conclusions

The findings reflect the heterogeneous nature of EI. The differences in EI prevalence between the countries might reflect disparities concerning which exposures people perceive harmful and focus their attention to.

中文翻译：

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瑞典和芬兰总人口中各种环境不宽容的患病率

客观的

为了确定各种环境不宽容（EI）的患病率，使用了几个瑞典和芬兰普通人群中的标准。低水平的环境暴露导致的不良健康是职业和环境医学中经常遇到的挑战。

方法

在基于人群的问卷调查，韦斯特博滕环境健康研究（瑞典）和厄斯特博滕环境健康研究（芬兰）中，通过关于化学物，某些建筑物或电磁场（EMF）的症状归因的一项问题来询问EI。难以容忍声音。受访者被问到他们是否对中枢神经系统（CNS）症状有反应，或是否因相应的暴露而被医生诊断为EI。确定了不同年龄和性别组以及瑞典和芬兰样本的总体患病率。

结果

在瑞典的样本中（n = 3406），有12.2％的人对化学物质不耐受，对某些建筑物的不耐受率为4.8％，对电动势的不耐受为2.7％，对声音的不耐受率为9.2％。芬兰样本（n = 1535）的患病率分别为15.2％，7.2％，1.6％和5.4％，与瑞典人的统计差异显着。EI对化学药品和某些建筑物的EI在芬兰更为普遍，而EI对EMF的声音在瑞典更为普遍。带有中枢神经系统症状的EI患病率低于自我报告的EI，而医生诊断的EI则低得多。女性比男性和年轻人（18-39岁）报告EI的频率更高，其程度低于中年和老年人。

结论

这些发现反映了EI的异质性。各国之间EI患病率的差异可能反映了人们对哪些暴露有害并关注他们的关注之间的差异。