Environmental illness prevalence: A population‐based study in Nova Scotia

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Clinic studies demonstrate that people diagnosed with environmental illness experience high levels of disability and health care utilization. Even though the controversial status of this disorder attracts attention, actual prevalence estimates and estimated impact on health care systems are unclear. To address this, we sought both a prevalence estimate and a measure of the degree of health care utilization for those reporting this diagnosis. DESIGN AND METHODS: Point prevalence, as assessed by self-report of professional diagnosis, was established with data from the Nova Scotia Health Survey 1995, a stratified, random sample population survey of 3227 Nova Scotian adults. We compared medical care utilization for the year following the survey, drawn from the provincial medical insurance register, between the 24 cases with no other reported medical conditions and 48 age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy controls. RESULTS: The adjusted point prevalence of environmental illness was 2.6%. Physician reimbursement costs across the following year were 5.5 times more likely to be above the survey average ($259 CAD) when compared to the healthy control group. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of environmental illness diagnoses represents a significant disability and treatment burden, justifying research into case definition and the phenomenology of environmental illness by health psychologists.

Health Care Utilisation and Attitudes towards Health Care in Subjects Reporting Environmental Annoyance from Electricity and Chemicals

“…One study showed an average of 23 health care visits per year for IEI subjects [20]. McGlone et al [21] found increased health care utilisation in 24 persons reporting environmental illness, compared with 48 controls. In another study, among subjects reporting hypersensitivity to common chemicals 45% reported that they had received medical treatment [22].…”