title: Health related quality of life and polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans exposure: 30 years follow-up of Yucheng cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QOL) can be affected by diseases, disasters, and exposure events to environmental factors. However, whether health-related QOL (HRQOL) might be adversely affected by exposure to dioxin-like chemicals 30 years ago is unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied people who were poisoned to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dibebenzofurans (PCDFs) due to ingestion of contaminated rice oil in 1979 in central Taiwan, and were called Yucheng (oil-disease in Chinese) people. In 2008, we conducted a survey in 1305 exposed people by mailed questionnaire, which included HRQOL by World Health Organization (WHO) quality of life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) Taiwanese version. A total of 240 Yucheng subjects aged 18-65 years satisfactorily completed the Questionnaire. For comparison, we obtained information from the database of 2001 National Health Survey conducted by the National Health Research Institute and Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taiwan. Data from age-, sex-, and county-matched background individuals were extracted using 1:3 match. HRQOL among Yucheng people with/without skin manifestation and unexposed referents were compared, while adjusting for other factors by multiple regression analyzes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Yucheng people had significantly reduced scores in the physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains as compared to the referents. Those with skin manifestations were more severely affected than those with no skin manifestations, suggesting a dose-related effect on QOL in exposed people.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We show for the very first time that poisoning due to persistent organic pollutants PCBs and PCDFs can affect QOL 30 years after the exposure, especially among those most severely poisoned.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Business Administration, Hung-Kuang University, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Chiu-Yueh
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Shiau-Ling
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chiou
authors.affiliation: Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, NTU College of Public Health, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Jung-Der
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan, ROC; Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, NTU College of Public Health, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: leonguo@ntu.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Yueliang Leon
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001572:Benzofurans / Q000633:toxicity*; D002681:China; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000633:toxicity*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced
chemical_list: D001572:Benzofurans; D000072338:Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Dibenzofurans; Health-related quality of life; Polychlorinated biphenyls; WHOQOL-BREF; Yucheng