Normative data for the chemical sensitivity scale for sensory hyperreactivity: the Västerbotten environmental health study

• Published in: International archives of occupational and environmental health 2013-10, Vol.86 (7), p.749-753
• Main Authors: Nordin, Steven, Palmquist, Eva, Bende, Mats, Millqvist, Eva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Biological and medical sciences; Chemicals; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental Health; environmental hypersensitivity; Environmental studies; Female; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; multiple chemical sensitivity; Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - diagnosis; Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - psychology; normation; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Odorants; Original Article; Population studies; population-based; Psychometrics; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Reference Values; Rehabilitation; reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0340-0131; 1432-1246; 1432-1246
• DOI: 10.1007/s00420-012-0812-2

Objectives The chemical sensitivity scale for sensory hyperreactivity (CSS-SHR) is used to quantify affective reactions to and behavioral disruptions by odorous/pungent substances in the environment and has documented good metric properties. However, normative data have not been available. The main objective of the present study was therefore to establish normative data for reference by means of a large-scale population-based study. Materials and methods From a random sample of 8,520 reachable inhabitants in the county of Västerbotten in Sweden, aged 18–79 years, stratified for age and gender, 3,406 individuals agreed to participate. Results The results show fairly high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.78–0.83) of the CSS-SHR and that it generates scores with approximately normal distributions (skewness: 0.045–0.454; kurtosis: −0.314 to 0.230), irrespective of age group and gender. Mean scores, standard deviations, confidence intervals, and proportions of individuals who met the diagnostic cutoff score for the CSS-SHR were obtained for reference of normality. Conclusions CSS-SHR can be recommended for quantification of affective reactions to and behavioral disruptions by odorous/pungent environmental substances, and with the advantage of comparing scores with normality.