[Statistical description of health complaints after pyrethroid exposure--a comparison of exposed groups]

In respect of 128 pyrethroid-exposed persons, data on subjective health impairment were collected by applying a self-administered questionnaire. Participants--83 female and 45 male--determined their health status using a scale for the strength of their complaints. Health complaints were measured by 70 variables and were divided into 6 symptom groups. A low exposure and a high exposure group was defined by the number of pyrethroid applications (once versus several). We computed mean values for all 70 variables stratified according to gender and exposure group. Comparison shows that for nearly all variables highly exposed women reported stronger health complaints than low exposed women. This uniform trend is not seen in men. For a condensed presentation of differing health complaints between exposure groups, we defined standardised scores for each of the 6 symptom classes. Women with elevated exposure show increased scores for all 6 symptom groups, one difference being significant (p = 0.018) and two differences being of borderline significance (p = 0.061 and p = 0.073). For highly exposed men only two scores are elevated and none is significant. However, it is pointed out that the high-exposure group comprises only 9 men.