Approach to characterize a sub-group susceptible to odour annoyance

Exposure to environmental odours can induce annoyance reactions and complaints about headache, nausea, or eye and throat irritation, for example. Field studies conducted in the vicinity of industrial or agricultural odour sources show that environmental odour exposure modifies behaviour and impairs quality of life. In addition, person-related factors like age and gender, smoking behaviour, and the health status considerably influence the annoyance response. Physiological hypersensitivity like "chronic" sinusitis, allergy or asthma has been found to be a risk factor for reporting odour annoyance and health symptoms. In order to improve the characterization of people who respond more sensitive than others to the perception of odours different tests were applied: Self-reported multiple chemical sensitivity, the odour identification sub-test of the Sniffin' Sticks test, the odour awareness scale (OAS), and polarity profiles for hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and phenylethylalcohol (PEA). In total, 322 visitors of the international trade fair A+A 2009 "Personal Protective Equipment, Occupational Safety and Health" in Dusseldorf were tested. Among them 59 subjects with self-reported multiple chemical sensitivity (sMCS) and 225 not-sMCS subjects could be identified. The results show that sMCS subjects give lower ratings of PEA intensity and higher unpleasant ratings of PEA hedonic tone compared to not-sMCS subjects. Differences were not found concerning olfactory functioning, i.e. the ability to correctly identify everyday odours, or awareness about odours in the environment. In sum, these results suggest that easy to apply measures, like self-reported multiple chemical sensitivity and the rating of hedonic tone and intensity of PEA, can be used to characterize a sub-group of people susceptible to experience annoyance and health complaints from environmental odours.