Depression and Panic Attacks Related to Phenol-Formaldehyde Composite Material Exposure in an Aerospace Manufacturing Plant

In a case series study we evaluated 53 composite-materials workers in an aerospace plant who filed workers' compensation claims for illness allegedly related to phenol-formaldehyde resin exposure. Symptoms ranged from mucosal and skin irritation to depression and cognitive impairment. Certain health practitioners implying they had immunologic dysfunction and organic brain injury, led workers to believe they were chemically poisoned. Industrial hygiene evaluation failed to show levels of chemicals above permissible levels. Thorough evaluation by our multidisciplinary panel failed to find significant objective abnormalities by physical exam and laboratory testing. Thirty-nine percent of the workers had sensory irritation and/or skin complaints that generally resolved rapidly with removal from exposure. Psychiatric diagnoses (including major depression and/or panic attacks) were made in 74% of the workers, but only 26% of these had antecedent disease. Fourteen (26%) had multiple somatic complaints that generally persisted despite removal from exposure, but they also had long histories of significant pre-existing psychological illness. Detailed neuropsychologic testing failed to show any definite evidence of organic brain dysfunction in any of the workers tested. We speculate that sensory irritation from low-level volatile organic compounds with autonomic arousal, reinforced by the belief they were "chemically poisoned, " led to psychogenic illness.