A POLYSOMNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SLEEP DISTURBANCE IN COMMUNITY ELDERLY WITH SELF-REPORTED ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ODOR INTOLERANCE

Subjective sleep complaints and food intolerances, especially to milk products, are frequent symptoms of individuals who also report intoler ance for low-level odors of various environmental chemicals. The purpo se of the present study was to evaluate the objective nature of noctur nal sleep patterns during different diets, using polysomnography in co mmunity older adults with self-reported illness from chemical odors. T hose high in chemical odor intolerance (n = 15) exhibited significantl y lower sleep efficiency (p = .005) and lower rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep percent (p = .04), with a trend toward longer latency to REM sl eep (p = .07), than did those low in chemical intolerance (n = 15), es pecially on dairy-containing as compared with nondairy (soy) diets. Th e arousal pattern of the chemical odor intolerant group differed from the polysomnographic features of major depression, classical organopho sphate toxicity, and subjective insomnia without objective findings. T he findings suggest that community elderly with moderate chemical odor intolerance and minimal sleep complaints exhibit objectively poorer s leep than do their normal peers. Individual differences in underlying brain function may help generate these observations. The data support the need for similar studies in clinical populations with chemical odo r intolerance, such as multiple chemical sensitivity patients and perh aps certain veterans with ''Persian Gulf Syndrome.''