Reported chemical sensitivities in a health survey of United Kingdom military personnel.

Abstract

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