精神病理對自述電磁波過敏者的特徵的影響

Effects of Psychopathology on the Characteristics of Individuals with Self-reported Electromagnetic Field Hypersensitivity

目的：電磁波過敏者的特徵曾被報告過和精神疾病狀況相類似，但是精神疾病狀態和電 磁波過敏間的關係仍不清楚。本研究的目的是調查精神病理對自述電磁波過敏者的影響。 方法：在一項全國性電話訪問有關各種環境因子的風險感知的研究中，選出 170 位自述有電 磁波敏感者參與本研究。有精神科狀況者則由 5 題的簡短症狀量表大於 6 分者定義之，一共 190 位，其中含 49 位合併電磁波敏感者。會談內容包括基本人口學資料、有無重大傷病、 自述健康狀況、功能障礙、醫療使用和對 13 種環境因子風險感知。 結果：自述電磁波敏感 者和那些有精神科狀況的人，均有顯著的較高比例出現無法工作和日常活動障礙。精神病理 的嚴重性顯著的會增加電磁波敏感者的醫療使用 (p < 0.001), 沒工作 (p < 001) 和日常活動障 礙 (p < 0.001)。然而電磁波的敏感程度只有顯著的和沒工作有關 (p < 0.05)。 結論：電磁波過 敏的常見特徵主要是和精神病理的嚴重度有關，而非電磁波的敏感程度。治療焦慮和憂鬱可 能有助於改善電磁波過敏者的症狀。

Objective: Individuals with electro-magnetic hypersensitivity have been re-ported to have characteristics overlapped with some psychiatric conditions, but the relationship between psychiatric morbidity and electro-magnetic hypersensitivity remains unclear. Here we intended to study the effects of psychopathology on the characteristics of electromagnetic hypersensitivity in a randomized sample of indi-viduals with idiopathic environmental intolerance with attribution to electromag-netic fields (IEI-EMF). Methods: We identified individuals in Taiwan with self-reported IEI-EMF (n = 170) in a nationwide telephone survey (n = 1,197) on the perception of risks from various environmental agents. The telephone interview questions contained demography, presence of catastrophic illness, self-reported health condition, functional impairment, medical utilization, and risk perception from 13 environmental agents. Individuals with psychiatric conditions were iden-tified using the Brief Symptom Rating Scale-5 (n = 190). Of them, 49 persons were comorbid with self-reported IEI-EMF. Results: We found that individuals with IEI-EMF shared features with those with psychiatric conditions including inability to work and impairment of daily activities. Co-occurring psychopathology signifi-cantly increased the severity of poor self-reported health condition, and the degree of sensitivity to EMF among individuals with IEI-EMF. More severe degree of psychopathology was associated with significantly increased medical utilization (p < 0.001), non-employment (p < 0.001), and impairment in daily activity (p < 0.001), whereas the severe degree of electrosensitivity was significantly associated with non-employment only (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Commonly reported features of IEI-EMF were mainly predicted by the degree of psychopathology instead of the degree of sensitivity to EMF. Treating anxiety and depression in individuals with IEI-EMF may help improve these clinical features.