湯原町における腹部症状を伴う脳脊髄炎症 (スモン) の疫学的研究 (第3報)

抄録

The authors have already reported the results of epidemiological studies of SMON in the town of Yubara, Japan.
Recently, the Ministry of Health and Welfare ordered pharmaceutical companies to stop production and sale of all drugs containing chinoform, since it was revealed by the Committee on SMON that attack rates of SMON could be related to ingestion of chinoform.
The authors compared the attack rate of persons who had taken chinoform with that of persons who had not.
It was noted that the morbidity of gastrointestinal diseases and allergic diseases among SMON patients was higher than that of the control group.
Results are as follows:
1. SMON patients had not taken chinoform at home.
2. SMON patients usually had taken less medication for their gastrointestinal diseases than the control group, in spite of a higher morbidity of gastrointestinal diseases among them than that of the control group.
3. Accordingly, the increased attack rate of SMON might be related to administration of chinoform while in the hospital and not related to ingestion at home.
4. Chinoform is a very popular drug. For this reason careful attention must be given to dosage and method of administration as well as indications to determine relationship in the etiology of SMON.
5. Careful attention should also be given to the physical conditions of patients being treated with chinoform.
6. If persons in the control group were subjected to a detailed investigation there is some possibility many may be found to be using chinoform contained medications.