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The Article in Brief
Chemical Intolerance in Primary Care Settings: Prevalence, Comorbidity, and Outcomes
David A. Katerndahl , and colleagues
Background As many as one-third of people report that they are highly sensitive to certain common environmental chemicals such as cleaning products, tobacco smoke, and perfumes. Patients with chemical intolerance use health care services at increased rates. This study assesses the prevalence of chemical intolerance and accompanying medical and mental disorders among primary care patients, and evaluates the patients' functional status and health care utilization.
What This Study Found In a sample of 400 primary care patients, chemical intolerance was prevalent, often in conjunction with a range of medical and psychiatric conditions. Overall, 20 percent of the sample met criteria for chemical intolerance. They had significantly higher rates of allergies and possible major depressive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and alcohol abuse disorder, as well as somatization disorder. Patients with chemical intolerance were significantly more likely to have poorer functional status, with trends toward increased medical service use when compared with other patients.
Implications
- Although chemical intolerance is common in primary care, it often goes unrecognized and requires active investigation by primary care physicians.