Table 1. Descriptive data among 486 participants studied in the aftermath of a chemical expolosion, when malodorous pollution was present in the industrial area (2008), as well as 1 and 3 years after clean-up (2010 and 2012, respectively).
| 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Low odour scorea | High odour scorea | Total | Low odour scorea | High odour scorea | Total | Low odour scorea | High odour scorea | |||
| Participants | 486 | 253 | 233 | 379 | 197 | 182 | 352 | 178 | 174 | ||
| Men, n (%) | 314 (65) | 164 (65) | 150 (64) | 239 (63) | 123 (62) | 116 (64) | 216 (61) | 108 (61) | 108 (62) | ||
| Women, n (%) | 172 (35) | 89 (35) | 83 (36) | 140 (37) | 74 (38) | 66 (36) | 136 (39) | 70 (39) | 66 (38) | ||
| Age in 2008, mean (median) min-max | 43.8 (45) 18–67 |
44.7 (46) 18–67 |
42.9 (44) 18–67 |
45.4 (46) 19–67 |
46.0 (47) 19–67 |
44.8 (45) 19–67 |
45.0 (46) 18–67 |
45.86 (47) 18–67 |
44.24 (45) 19–67 |
||
| 18–36, n (%) | 135 (28) | 65 (26) | 70 (30) | 84 (22) | 40 (20) | 44 (24) | 80 (23) | 38 (21) | 42 (24) | ||
| 37–44, n (%) | 107 (22) | 53 (21) | 54 (23) | 84 (22) | 40 (20) | 44 (24) | 79 (22) | 36 (20) | 43 (25) | ||
| 45–51, n (%) | 112 (23) | 62 (25) | 50 (22) | 92 (24) | 53 (27) | 39 (21) | 89 (25) | 47 (26) | 42 (24) | ||
| 52–67, n (%) | 132 (27) | 73 (29) | 59 (25) | 119 (31) | 64 (33) | 55 (30) | 104 (30) | 57 (32) | 47 (27) | ||
| Educational level in 2008 | |||||||||||
| 0 years after elementary school, n (%) | 47 (10) | 28 (11) | 19 (8) | 39 (11) | 24 (12) | 15 (9) | 33 (10) | 21 (12) | 12 (7) | ||
| 1–3 years after elementary school, n (%) | 242 (51) | 117 (47) | 125 (55) | 186 (50) | 93 (48) | 93 (53) | 173 (50) | 79 (45) | 94 (56) | ||
| 4 years or more after elementary school, n (%) | 186 (39) | 103 (42) | 83 (37) | 145 (39) | 76 (39) | 69 (39) | 137 (40) | 75 (43) | 62 (37) | ||
| Smoking habits | |||||||||||
| Non-smoker, n (%) | 331 (70) | 179 (73) | 152 (67) | 264 (77) | 137 (77) | 127 (77) | 263 (78) | 137 (79) | 126 (76) | ||
| Daily smoker, n (%) | 139 (30) | 65 (27) | 74 (33) | 77 (23) | 40 (23) | 37 (23) | 76 (22) | 37 (21) | 39 (24) | ||
| Employed in the industrial area at the time of the explosion, n (%) | 115 (24) | 13 (5) | 102 (44) | 86 (23) | 8 (4) | 78 (43) | 87 (25) | 8 (5) | 79 (45) | ||
| Clean-up worker, n (%) | 52 (11) | 17 (7) | 35 (15) | 41 (11) | 15 (8) | 26 (14) | 38 (11) | 12 (7) | 26 (15) | ||
| Proximity to the explosionb | |||||||||||
| ≤1 km, n (%) | 87 (18) | 17 (7) | 70 (30) | 64 (17) | 10 (5) | 54 (30) | 66 (19) | 10 (6) | 56 (32) | ||
| >1 km, n (%) | 399 (82) | 236 (93) | 163 (70) | 315 (83) | 187 (95) | 128 (70) | 286 (81) | 168 (94) | 118 (68) | ||
| Odour scorea, mean (median) min-max | 42.78 (31.25) 0–100 |
10.67 (6.25) 0–31.25 |
77.80 (81.25) 37.50–100 |
42.81 (31.25) 0–100 |
11.39 (6.25) 0–31.25 |
76.82 (81.25) 37.50–100 |
44.46 (31.25) 0–100 |
11.27 (9.38) 0–31.25 |
78.41 (87.50) 37.50–100 |
||
| Reported the characteristic odour sometimes after the explosion, n (%) | 394 (81) | 162 (64) | 232 (100) | ||||||||
| Reported the characteristic odour the previous month, n (%) | 9 (2) | 1 (1) | 8 (4) | 12 (3) | 3 (2) | 9 (5) | |||||
| Total SHC scorec, mean (median) min-max | 11.47 (10) 0–46 |
9.52 (8) 0–41 |
13.54 (11.39) 0–46 |
10.50 (8.29) 0–49.71 |
8.84 (7.23) 0–41.43 |
12.00 (9.32) 0–49.71 |
10.58 (8.06) 0–47.53 |
8.87 (7.25) 0–40.28 |
12.26 (8.86) 0–47.53 |
||
| Subjective neurological scorec, mean (median) min-max | 2.43 (2) 0–17 |
1.83 (1) 0–9 |
3.07 (2) 0–17 |
2.19 (1) 0–15.75 |
1.83 (1) 0–15 |
2.37 (2) 0–11.20 |
2.23 (2) 0–13 |
1.85 (1) 0–13 |
2.62 (2) 0–12 |
||
| Total IES-R scored, mean (median) min-max | 4.70 (1) 0–61 |
2.11 (0) 0–61 |
7.52 (4) 0–45 |
3.28 (0) 0–42.71 |
1.38 (0) 0–37.40) |
5.17 (2) 0–42.71 |
2.34 (0) 0–36 |
1.17 (0) 0–25 |
3.55 (0) 0–36 |
||
a Odour score computed as the percentage of months each participant had noticed the specific foul odour. The participants were divided by the odour score median into the low odour score and the high odour score groups, respectively. b Proximity of 1 km or less was used to classify the participants as present in the industrial area during the explosion.c Scores from the Subjective Health Complaints Inventory (SHC). d Scores from the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R).