health

This paper will review 6 years of experience in risk communication and meeting workplaceinformation needs about the health effects experienced by people working in sealed buildings.The purpose of this paper is to discuss examples of the kinds of information that theworkplace community is seeking and what answers can or cannot be provided.In the past two decades, there has been a growing concern about potential chronic healtheffects of poor indoor air quality and mould.

After moving into a new office building, employees complained about irritation of eyes, sorethroat and unspecific symptoms. A working group was appointed to investigate indoor airpollution.Air samples and floor dust samples for the analysis of organic compounds were collected inoffice rooms. Within 8 months, several measurement campaigns were conducted to assess thetrends of the concentrations of air pollutants.

A sample of 269 workers, selected randomly from 1600 employees of a sealed 42-storeyoffice building of a major bank in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, responded to the standard RoyalSociety of Health Advisory Group questionnaire about Sick Building Syndrome.Upper airways respiratory symptoms occupied a prominent position, with a prevalence ofaround 40%, whereas the lower airways manifestations frequencies were below 20%.

In order to determine the a etiological factor of Sick House Syndrome (SHS), indoor airquality of 35 houses in Miyagi prefecture of Japan, where occupants are suspected ofsuffering from SHS, had been investigated during the summers in 2000-2002. Theinvestigation included the measurement of indoor chemical substance concentration and aquestionnaire regarding residential environment and subjective symptoms.As a result, the formaldehyde concentrations in 71% of all houses exceeded the guideline ofJapan.

Healthy housing strategies tend to focus on good comfort and on avoiding specific health riskagents. These agents are generated by building features and occupancy and may come fromboth indoor and outdoor environments. This research project focuses on building features andthe impact they have on the indoor environment. The interaction between the building andoccupancy patterns is studied. This paper describes the selection of the smallest set ofindicators that allows a simple but effective evaluation procedure of the health performance ofhousing.

Knowledge about gender-relate exposures is rare. Therefore, based on a patient collective in environmental medicine gender specific aspects of surrounding exposures were investigated. Questionnaire data of 656 women and 501 men, who have to be affected by environment-related health disorders were retrospectively analyzed. Gender specific differences and risk factors were determined by frequency distributions. Significant differences between women and men could be shown for exposures at home and workplace, for behavioral risk factors, and for health effects.

Since 1987, in Germany advisory centers for environmental medicine were founded. In the present study the relevance of indoor air problems in a patient collective in environmental medicine was investigated. Questionnaire data of 772 patients, who consulted the former Consulting Center of Environmental Medicine (CEM) of the Medical Institute of Environmental Hygiene at the Heinrich Heine-University Duesseldorf because of the suspicion of environment-related health disorders, were retrospectively examined regarding exposures and health effects.

There is an increasing evidence of air related sickness among infants and housewives in urbanIndia due to the use of liquefied petroleum gas. An attempt has been made in this study, tomonitor kitchens of 13 houses in the city of Jaipur for possible residential indoor air pollution(IAP), i.e. carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and respirablesuspended particulate matter generated during cooking. The role of the exhaust fan as aninexpensive means to dissipate these gases of combustion has also been studied.

After several cases of health problems in French schools, a methodology for health riskassessment related to indoor air quality (IAQ) was required. Based on measuredconcentrations in schools where acute symptoms possibly due to exposure to airborne sensoryirritants were reported, an index quantifying the sensory irritation potential was built andused. This paper focuses on one classroom where the index was successively applied withoutany ventilation system, after the implementation of passive ventilation grids and with amechanically controlled ventilation.

We studies the conditions in special old age nursing homes and elderly health care facilities in Japanespecially in a region with a cold climate. A questionnaire survey for all special old age nursing homes and elderly health care facilities in Sapporo and Fukuoka City, and Hokkaido, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Osaka Prefecture, and Tokyo Metropolis was performed. The main questionnaire asks about heating, air-cooling, ventilation systems, sanitary systems and indoor air quality including bio-aerosol and odours.