Cutaneous symptoms such as acneform eruption and pigmentation are closely associated with blood levels of 2,3,4,7,8-penta-chlorodibenzofurans in Yusho patients, using data mining analysis

BACKGROUND: Yusho an intoxication caused by oral dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls occurred in 1968. Patients suffered from various systemic symptoms, including general fatigue, nausea, muscular and articular pain, acneform eruptions, black comedones, cutaneous and oral pigmentation, and increased eye discharge. The major causative factor was the contamination of rice oil with 2,3,4,7,8-penta-chlorodibenzofuran (PeCDF). Recent technical advances have allowed us to measure blood levels of PeCDF. However, there is little information on which symptoms and laboratory data are directly associated with PeCDF levels. METHODS: Yusho patients underwent annual medical check-ups from 2001 to 2003. Blood PeCDF levels were correlated with the presence or absence of symptoms in medical, hematological, dermatological, dental and ophthalmological examinations. This study analyzed all combinations by using the association analysis. This is the most suitable method to evaluate all combinations of the data comprehensively. This method was used to determine the rate of patients with high PeCDF level in the population with each symptom, and to extract combinations of three symptoms which were strongly associated with high PeCDF level. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The rate of the patients with high PeCDF level was high in populations with high uric acid, black comedones (face), second highest quartile of age, or high urea nitrogen. The combination of three symptoms associated with the highest rate of patients with high PeCDF level was "high uric acid, female sexuality, and history of acneform eruptions", followed by "history of Yusho in and after 1968, high cholesterol level, and subjective symptoms." This analysis newly suggested that PeCDF concentration may be associated with history of dermatological symptoms, high uric acid, and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate.