SHORT REPORT

Reported chemical sensitivities in a health survey of United Kingdon military personnel

S Reid, M Hotopf, L Hull, K Ismail, C Unwin, S Wessely

Gulf War Illnesses Research Unit, Guy's, King's, and St Thomas's School of Medicine, London SE5 8AZ, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr S Reid, Paterson Centre for Mental Health, St Mary's Hospital, South Wharf Road, London W2 1PD, UK;
steve.reid{at}kcl.ac.uk

Objective: To report the prevalence of self reported chemical sensitivities in three cohorts of United Kingdom service personnel.

Method: Cross sectional postal survey of three cohorts of United Kingdom military personnel comprising Gulf veterans (n=3531), those who had served in Bosnia (n=2050), and those serving during the Gulf war but not deployed there (Era cohort, n=2614).

Results: Sensitivity to at least one everyday chemical was reported by a considerable proportion of all three cohorts, and particularly by veterans of the Gulf war (Era: 14%; Bosnia: 13%; Gulf: 28%).

Conclusion: Reported chemical sensitivities were common in all three military cohorts. Our understanding of chemical sensitivities remains limited and objective evidence for a causal link between low level exposures to chemicals and reported symptoms is lacking. Given their frequency in the population, further work in this area is necessary.

Keywords: multiple chemical sensitivity; occupational exposure

Abbreviations: MCS; multiple chemical sensitivity

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