Prevalence of people reporting sensitivities to chemicals in a population-based survey

To describe the prevalence and correlates of reports about sensitivities to chemicals, questions about chemical sensitivities were added to the 1995 C alifornia Behavior Risk Factor Survey (BRFS), The survey was administered b y telephone to 4,046 subjects. Of all respondents, 253 (6.3%) reported doct or-diagnosed "environmental illness" or "multiple chemical sensitivity" (MC S) and 643 (15.9%) reported being "allergic or unusually sensitive to every day chemicals." Sensitivity to more than one type of chemical was described by 11.9% of the total sample population. Logistic regression models were c onstructed. Hispanic ethnicity was associated with physician-diagnosed MCS (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.21-2.73). Female gender was associated with individual self-reports of sensitivity (a djusted OR = 1.63, 95% CI 1.23-2.17). Marital status, employment, education , geographic location, and income were not predictive of reported chemical sensitivities or reported doctor diagnosis. Surprising numbers of people be lieved they were sensitive to chemicals and made sick by common chemical ex posures. The homogeneity of responses across race-ethnicity, geography, edu cation, and marital status is compatible with a physiologic response or wit h widespread societal apprehensions in regard to chemical exposure.