Abstract
Background and Objective: In 1981, toxic oil syndrome (TOS) appeared in Spain, affecting more than 20,000 persons
and causing over 2500 deaths to date. Previous studies have addressed mortality only
by gender and age. We analyzed possible prognostic factors in the survival of the
cohort.
Methods: The study period was 1 May 1981 to 31 December 1995 (31 December 1995 was the cut-off
date for survivors). The study population consisted of the entire cohort. Overall
mortality and TOS-related deaths were studied. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression
were used in the analyses.
Results: Among the 20,084 subjects in the cohort, 12,164 (60.6%) were women, and 7917 (39.4%)
were men. Of the 1799 deaths, 958 (53.3%) were women, and 841 (46.71%) were men; of
the 356 TOS-related deaths, 234 (65.7%) were women, and 122 (34.3%) were men. TOS
was the leading cause of death among subjects <40 years of age. Among the TOS-related
deaths, the shortest survival times were for women and subjects <40 years of age.
The major disease manifestations had the highest relative risks (RR) (liver disease,
RR 3.83; pulmonary infection, RR 1.54; motor neuropathy, RR 2.24; pulmonary hypertension,
RR 3.19; and eosinophilia, RR 1.14.).
Conclusions: The major clinical manifestations showed worse prognosis for overall and TOS-related
mortality. Application of these results to the survivors will help clarify the validity
of these conclusions.
Keywords
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