G. Tjalvin and M. Bråtveit, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; S.H.L. Lygre and B.E. Hollund, Department of Occupational Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen; and B.E. Moen, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for International Health, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen

Physical and psychological symptoms are prevalent in populations recently affected by industrial accidents. Follow-up studies of human health effects are scarce, and as most of them focus on residents, little is known about the long-term health effects among workers exposed to malodorous emissions following a chemical explosion. This study aimed to assess whether subjective health complaints (SHC) among workers had declined over a four-year period after an oil-tank explosion that had emitted malodorous sulphurous compounds. It used a longitudinal survey from 2008 (18 months after the explosion) to 2012, performed using the SHC inventory. Questionnaire data were analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model. There was a decrease in SHCs among the exposed workers, but they still had significantly more subjective neurological symptoms (P < 0.01) compared with controls, adjusted for gender, age, smoking habits, educational level and proximity to the explosion. Although there was a downward trend in SHCs among exposed workers in the follow-up period, they reported more subjective neurological complaints than controls. Symptoms may be mediated by perceived pollution and health risk perception, and adaptation or anxiety may cause a chronic effect, manifested by a dysfunctional and persistent neuropsychological response.

Occ Med, Volume 65, Issue 3, pages 202-209. Correspondence to: G. Tjalvin, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7804, 5020 Bergen, Norway; tel: +47 55 58 61 16; fax: +47 55 58 85 61; email: gro.tjalvin@igs.uib.no.