Sick building syndrome among office workers in Mauritius

A cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of sick buildingsyndrome (SBS) among the office workers in Mauritius. Data were collected through selfadministeredquestionnaires answered by 384 occupants in 25 randomly selected buildings. Awalk-through investigation and some indoor climate variables were also monitored. All datacollected were analysed using Epi-Info and SPSS softwares. P values less than 0.05 wereconsidered significant.Personal factors such as sex, allergy and active smoking were significantly related to SBSsymptoms. Age of building, room and building damage indices, mechanical ventilation, ETS,job stress, VDU and paper work and were the other significant factors associated with SBSsymptoms. Temperature, relative humidity, light, Gram-positive bacteria and presence ofmites were the other significant factors, which influenced SBS symptoms in the final logisticregression model. In conclusion, SBS symptoms were common among office workers andwere associated with personal, occupational and certain indoor environmental exposures.