Profile of subjective complaints and activities of daily living among current patients with Minamata disease after 3 decades

Journal Article · Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Environmental Research; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1006/enrs.1993.1144· OSTI ID:5544805

Kinjo, Yoshihide; Nakano, Atsuhiro; Sakamoto, Mineshi ^[1]; Higashi, Hirofumi ^[2]; Sakai, Ryoji ^[3]

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1. National Institute for Minamata Disease, Minamata City (Japan)
2. National Institute of fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Kagoshima (Japan)
3. School of Health Sciences, Ryukyu Univ., Okinawa (Japan)

We surveyed 1144 current patients with Minamata disease (MD) aged 40 or over in the Minamata area and the same number of neighbor controls matched with age and sex by questionnarie interview with regard to subjective complaints and activities of daily living (ADL). From analysis of subjective complaints, it was found that MD patients had significantly higher rates of all complaints than controls (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that subjective complaints in controls were clearly separated into the following two categories: sensor disturbances and movement nerve disturbances, but all complaints in MD patients formed one cluster. Such variation seemed to be due to methylmercury exposure to the central nervous system. ADL analysis revealed that the difference in the ADL disability between MD patients and controls significantly increased with age (P < 0.05) and that ADL disability in MD patients was aggravated by aging. 25 refs., 4 figs., 5 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 5544805
• Journal Information: Environmental Research; (United States), Vol. 63:2; ISSN 0013-9351
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
METHYLMERCURY
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
REFLEXES
AGE DEPENDENCE
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM AGENTS
EPIDEMIOLOGY
FOOD CHAINS
QUALITY OF LIFE
DRUGS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC MERCURY COMPOUNDS
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