Caccappolo E, Kipen H, Kelly-McNeil K, Knasko S, Hamer R M, Natelson B, Fiedler N
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Piscataway 08854, USA.
J Occup Environ Med. 2000 Jun;42(6):629-38. doi: 10.1097/00043764-200006000-00012.
Patients with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) often report heightened sensitivity to odors. Odor detection thresholds to phenyl ethyl alcohol (PEA) and pyridine (PYR) were evaluated as a measure of odor sensitivity for 33 MCS subjects, 13 chronic fatigue syndrome subjects, 16 asthmatic subjects, and 27 healthy controls. Odor identification ability (based on University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test results) and ratings in response to four suprathreshold levels of PEA and PYR were also assessed. Odor detection thresholds for PEA and PYR and odor identification ability were equivalent for all groups; however, when exposed to suprathreshold concentrations of PEA, MCS subjects reported significantly more trigeminal symptoms and lower esthetic ratings of PEA. No group differences were found in response to suprathreshold concentrations of PYR. In summary, MCS subjects did not demonstrate lower olfactory threshold sensitivity or enhanced ability to identify odors accurately. Furthermore, they were differentiated from the other groups in their symptomatic and esthetic ratings of PEA, but not PYR.
患有多种化学物质敏感症（MCS）的患者常常报告称自己对气味的敏感度有所提高。对33名患有MCS的受试者、13名慢性疲劳综合征受试者、16名哮喘受试者和27名健康对照者的苯乙醇（PEA）和吡啶（PYR）气味检测阈值进行了评估，以此作为气味敏感度的一项指标。还评估了气味识别能力（基于宾夕法尼亚大学嗅觉识别测试结果）以及对四个高于阈值水平的PEA和PYR的反应评分。所有组的PEA和PYR气味检测阈值以及气味识别能力相当；然而，当暴露于高于阈值浓度的PEA时，患有MCS的受试者报告的三叉神经症状明显更多，且对PEA的美学评分更低。在对高于阈值浓度的PYR的反应中未发现组间差异。总之，患有MCS的受试者并未表现出较低的嗅觉阈值敏感度或更强的准确识别气味的能力。此外，他们在对PEA的症状和美学评分方面与其他组存在差异，但对PYR不存在差异。
