Acquired intolerance to organic solvents and results of vestibular testing

Abstract

Among 160 consecutive patients referred to the Clinic of Occupational Medicine, Rigshospitalet, for symptoms connected with exposure to organic solvents, 20 exhibited symptoms of acquired intolerance to minor amounts of organic solvents. Later, an additional 30 consecutive patients with symptoms of acquired intolerance were included, yielding a total of 43 men and 7 women. The characteristics of the clinical syndrome described are complaints of dizziness, nausea, and weakness after exposure to minimal solvent vapor concentrations. After having tolerated long-term occupational exposure to moderate or high air concentrations of various organic solvents, the patients became intolerant within a short period of time. Since dizziness was a frequent complaint, we tried to obtain a measure of the patients' complaints using vestibular tests. As a diagnostic test the combined vestibular tests had a sensitivity of 0.55 and a specificity of 0.87. No differences between patients with and without intolerance could be detected by the vestibular tests used. We conclude that acquired intolerance to organic solvents is a new but characteristic and easily recognizable syndrome, often with severe consequences for the patient's working ability.

Comparison of single photon emission computed tomography findings in cases of healthy adults and solvent-exposed adults

“…This syndrome, caused by the neurotoxic properties of solvents, has been described as causing symptoms of dizziness, nausea, weakness, intoxication, incoordination, exhilaration, sleepiness, stupor, early anesthesia, visual disorders, sleep apnea and insomnia, alterations in cognitive functioning, personality changes, fatigue, irritability, loss of appetite, problems with arm strength, and feeling ''high.'' [Gyntelberg et al, 1986;Dick, 1988;Takeuchi, 1988;Monstad et al, 1987;Lindelof et al, 1992;Morrow et al, 1990;Fidler et al, 1987]. While solvent syndrome has been well described, its physiological processes remain poorly understood.…”

Health Effects of Indoor Odorants

“…A variety of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the triggering of symptoms by levels ofexposure that have been historically considered toxicologically trivial. These mechanisms include "acquired intolerance" [to pesticides (52) or solvents (53)], "olfactory vertigo" (54), "psychological sensitization" (55), "panic disorder (in response to solvents)" (56).…”

A chamber-experiment investigation of the interaction between perceptions of noise and odor in humans

“…For odor exposure, the EPA (1991) study showed that, in buildings, at least two types of odor exposure (that from fresh paint, glue, etc., and body odor) were strongly associated with SBS symptoms. Exposure to odorous substances was reported to result in symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and weakness (Gyntelberg et al 1986). Inclusion of odor as an explanatory variable in the analysis of air quality increased the proportion of variance explained (R 2 ) from 0.34 to 0.56 acutely, 0.37 to 0.52 sub-acutely, and 0.09 to 0.22 after the exposure (Mølhave et al 1993).…”