Psychological symptoms and health-related quality of life in idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields.
OBJECTIVE
Need for better understanding of the etiology of idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF) motivated the present study of psychological symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in person who attribute health problems to electromagnetic fields.


METHODS
Participants with IEI-EMF (n=114) and a population-based sample of referents (n=104) were investigated with six subscales of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) to assess psychological symptoms, and with eight subscales of the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36) to assess HRQoL.


RESULTS
Significantly higher scores were found on obsessive/compulsive behavior, interpersonal hypersensitivity, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid thoughts in the IEI-EMF group compared to referents, whereas only a tendency of such a difference was found for psychotism. Furthermore, poorer HRQoL in the IEI-EMF group, compared to referents, were found regarding physical and social functioning, physical and emotional role limitations, general health, vitality, bodily pain, and mental health. Significant correlation with moderate to strong effect sizes were found between several of the SCL-90 and SF-36 subscales.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that IEI-EMF is associated with various types of psychological symptoms and with poor HRQoL. Clinical implications include theoretical support for cognitive behavioral therapy, and, although further research is needed, that attention should be directed towards feelings of inferiority and uneasiness in relationships as well as anger, hostility and resentment towards other people.
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden.
Anna
A
Kjellqvist
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden.
Eva
E
Palmquist
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden. Electronic address: steven.nordin@umu.se.
Steven
S
Nordin
D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D003193:Compulsive Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018777:Multiple Chemical Sensitivity / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D055815:Young Adult
Electromagnetic fields; Environmental illness; Perceived electromagnetic hypersensitivity; Quality of life; Symptomatology