TITLE:
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Sickness of Suffering, Not of Dying. Descriptive Study of 33 Cases
AUTHORS:
Blanca Navas-Soler, Aarón Gutiérrez-Pastor, Antonio Palazón-Bru, Jorge Vallejo-Ortega, Álex Méndez-Jover, Celia Santano-Pérez, Carmen Seguí-Pérez, Marc Seguí-Pérez, Sonia Cascant-Pérez, Juan Carlos López-Corbalán, Míriam Pérez-Cardona, Ramón Pérez-Doménech, Antonio Hernández-García, Patricia Lorca-Amorrich, Ana Belén Llinares-Llinares, Cristina Valverde-Cámara, Rosa María Bustos-Martínez, Juan Manuel Núñez-Cruz, Isidro Hernández-Isasi, José Juan Martínez-Pérez, José Manuel Santano-López, María Dolores Jover-Ríos, Juan Méndez-Mora, José Miguel Seguí-Ripoll
KEYWORDS:
Chemical Sensitivity, Electromagnetic Sensitivity, Mercury Poisoning, Amalgams, QEESI
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.17 No.1,
January
27,
2025
ABSTRACT: Objective: We describe patients with MCS, the evolution of the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) score with a special focus on people whose fillings were removed. Methods: We have conducted a retrospective longitudinal cohort study in patients diagnosed with MCS and attended in the outpatient Internal Medicine department of the University Hospital of San Juan de Alicante, from January 1, 2008 to January 1, 2021. Sociodemographic, clinical, QEESI and treatment-related variables were collected. We performed descriptive and inferential analyses. Mixed linear models were used to analyze the QEESI. Calculations were carried out with an α error of 5%. Results: Thirty-three patients were included (72.7% women, mean age 56.2). MCS was mainly triggered by mercury (N = 20) and food intolerance (N = 22). The mean interval from symptoms onset was 120 months (SD 81.6). 114 QEESIs were analyzed: 82 (N = 17 without amalgams) and 32 (N = 16 with amalgams). In patients without amalgams, severity scores increased across all subscales except the masking index (vs. with amalgams). Mean scores for the group without amalgams (vs. with amalgams) were: chemical intolerance, 62.8 points (vs. 63.4 and 46.7); other intolerances, 52.7 points (vs. 62.8 and 50.3); symptom severity, 63.2 (vs. 76.7 and 63.3); masking index, 3.9 (vs. 3.2 and 2.8); and life impacts, 63.1 (vs. 58.4 and 49.8). Conclusion: The profile of patient with MCS is a middle-aged woman who is a frequent user of healthcare services, presents a long diagnostic delay and has borne a great personal, work and socioeconomic impact. The QEESI is useful for the clinical follow-up of patients, including the optimal treatment response in the case of amalgams. Clinical Significance: People affected by Multiple Chemical Sensitivity deserve the attention, understanding and help of health professionals and family members, to face an invisible illness for those who do not suffer from it. Support is needed and doctors must raise awareness, and make an effort to understand and address this pathology. We suggest that protocolized amalgam extraction in accredited and prepared centers can reduce symptoms and improve quality of life, generating clinical, personal, family, occupational, social and occupational benefits.