Report: Effects of long-term exposure to CO gases

What follows is an overview and excerpts from THE EFFECTS OF CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO CO, a detailed study sponsored by the British non-profit organization CO Support. This overview is reprinted here with the permission of Mike Bragg, a fellow hearth industry professional who shares our concerns about the indoor CO issue.

CO Support was founded by Debbie Davis in 1995 after her health was destroyed by a leaking flue from a gas fire in the living room. Her aim was to set up a support group for other sufferers, and to gain as much information as possible about the long term health effects of CO poisoning. Even with limited publicity, a large number of people have sought help from the group, and the membership of CO Support has grown rapidly.

The objectives of CO Support are to:

CO Support found that currently there is little medical evidence on the effect of long term (chronic) exposure to CO. This is in marked contrast to the effects of a sudden acute exposure to CO, which has a considerable medical literature. The most recent medical article to explore chronic exposure to CO was published in 1936 . Sixty years later, in 1996, the members of CO Support decided that it was time to revisit the problem in a rigorous way. Those contacting CO Support, having been affected by CO, were asked to complete a comprehensive questionnaire. This report describes their experiences.

The key findings of the study are:

1. Those suffering from chronic exposure to CO experienced a wide range of symptoms, including memory loss, severe muscular pain, headaches, tiredness and dizziness;

2. In many cases, these symptoms continued for years after the exposure ceased. Although some people have recovered completely, a significant proportion remain permanently incapacitated and unable to work;

3. GPs failed to diagnose chronic exposure to CO. In only one case out of the 77 studied was exposure identified on the basis of symptoms alone;

4. Misdiagnoses included flu, viral infection, depression, ME, and psychosomatic illness. Often no diagnosis was given at all;

5. In the majority of cases, the presence of CO was discovered by servicing or investigation of the offending appliance. In some cases warning was given by an alarm or detector. In others, the collapse of one family member drew attention to the problem;

6. In many cases, regular servicing of the appliance failed to identify the problem. In some cases servicing took place regularly during an exposure lasting several years;

7. Around 70% of chronic exposures took place in people’s own homes;

8. Two thirds of sufferers were women, with most aged between 30 and 45 years;

9. Very few sufferers were offered a carboxy haemoglobin (COHb) test to determine the extent of their exposure. Where tests were performed, there was also evidence of misinterpretation of the results by hospitals and GPs.

Section 8 of the paper explores the extent to which doctors were able to diagnose exposure to CO on the basis of their patients’ symptoms. Out of 65 cases of chronic exposure, only one case was correctly diagnosed on the basis of symptoms alone, with two further cases where diagnosis was assisted by the context of the case.

This finding of widespread diagnostic failure by GPs is supported by a recent UK study. 200 GPs were given a description of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, namely nausea, headache, lethargy and flu-like symptoms, and asked for possible diagnoses. Not one doctor raised CO as a possibility.

The potential for misdiagnosis of CO exposure has also been highlighted in the medical literature. Again this supports the findings of the current study, which found extensive mis-diagnosis.

Moreover, a 1985 study suggested that there is extensive under-recognition of the number of deaths due to CO in England and Wales. By collating detailed hospital records, this study found a total of 1,365 deaths that were attributable to carbon monoxide poisoning, in a year when the official statistics stated there were just 475 hospital admissions and 10 deaths from CO poisonings.

Together, these findings suggest that chronic exposure to CO remains a largely hidden problem. Further research is urgently required into the extent of missed and mis-diagnosis of CO poisoning by hospitals and GPs. Indeed, the sample on which the present study is based involved only those who had contacted a small and relatively unknown charity for help. The fact that over 100 such people emerged during a period of one year is suggestive that the problem may be more widespread than is commonly recognised.

Section 9.2 explores possible prevalence of Chronic CO Poisoning, highlights the difficulty of identifying chronic CO poisoning and suggests that it is a widely under-recognized problem. This section considers briefly what wider evidence is available that could cast light on the prevalence of exposure to chronic carbon monoxide. As there has been no systematic investigation, the available evidence is incomplete and largely circumstantial. However, the following facts show cause for concern:

The above evidence is necessarily circumstantial. However, the general picture is one of widespread rises in the potential for domestic exposure to CO accompanied by unexplained increases of the symptoms of chronic exposure (such as headaches, dizziness, respiratory problems and heart failure), together with increases in conditions which might reflect misdiagnosis (such as ME and influenza).

Taken together, these factors reinforce the urgency of further investigation into the extent and consequences of low level chronic exposure to CO.

Section 9.3 concerns the similarity of symptoms between ME, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and carbon monoxide poisoning. This study provides a number of indications that some degree of misdiagnosis of CO as ME is ocurring. First, it is noteworthy that in this study three people within the chronic group were misdiagnosed as having ME or CFS. Secondly, many of the CO sufferers in the study experienced, and continue to experience, muscle pain which is thought to be a characteristic of ME. It is also significant that the age/sex profile of the chronic group was very similar to what has come to be recognised as the profile of a “typical” ME patient. Twice as many women were affected as men, with an age group of 30s to early 40s.

In addition, ME patients often suffer tiredness for many years. One study quoted an average of 9.2 years , which is consistent with the long periods over which the symptoms of tiredness and muscle pain were experienced by the chronic and unconscious groups in this study.

Finally, the Wilson study found that 65 out of 103, ie 64% of chronic fatigue syndrome patients had improved three years later, but that many patients remained functionally impaired. These results are remarkably similar to this study’s finding that over 40% of the chronic group were unable to work or walk far at the time of the survey, which was itself some time after exposure ceased.

To read about how much CO2 a vent free fireplace emits into the home,  click here.

To read postings from vent-free gas exhaust exposure victims,  click here.

To read our opinion about vent-free gas appliances and CO exposure,  click here.

To read a posting about vent-free gas appliances from an indoor air quality scientist,  click here.

To read recommendations from a leading consumer magazine’s November, 1998 issue,  click here.