Case-Control Assessment of the Short-Term Health Effects of an Industrial Toxic Waste Landfill

An industrial waste landfill located within a residential area received 400,000 tons of toxic wastes between 1980 and mid 1988, in Montchanin, France. Triggered by odor nuisances caused by emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), an intense local community concern led to the decision to close the site. A physicians′ practice-based case-control study was conducted in order to evaluate the short-term health impact of the remaining VOC emissions. Eight hundred and sixteen questionnaires were collected, divided into 432 cases (patients with conditions associated with the dump emissions) and 384 controls (other patients). Individual exposure was assessed using a combination of statistical modeling of airborne toxicants along with the determination of the time-activity patterns of the subjects throughout the study area. After adjustment for confounding factors (age, smoking, alcohol consumption, date of moving to town), nonspecific irritative respiratory symptoms occurred more frequently among the exposed subjects, with a positive trend across the three exposure categories [OR1 = 1.54; 95% CI = (0.69-3.41), OR2 = 2.09 (1.0-4.38)], and appeared to be related to long-lasting (prevalent) conditions. Psychiatric disorders were also found to be related to the exposure indexes [OR1 = 2.1 (1.01-4.37); OR2 = 2.52 (1.21-5.26)], but this association could be biased by the negative perception of the waste site. Similar findings were described in other toxic waste site-related studies.