Clearing the Air Asthma and Indoor Air Exposures (2000) / Chapter Skim
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9 Asthma and Nonresidential Indoor Environments
9 Asthma and Nonresidential Indoor Environments
Pages 316-326
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From page 316... ...
Several lines of evidence suggest the efficiency of pursuing indoor environmental factors in relation to asthma among office workers, school staff, and students. This chapter briefly reviews the scientific literature regarding asthma and nonresidential indoor environments primarily office buildings and schools.
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From page 317... ...
The most compelling description of office building-related asthma found that employees of a county social services agency in Denver had a 2.9-fold rate of physician-diagnosed asthma arising since building occupancy compared to employees of a comparable suburban social service agency (Hoffman et al., 1993~. The Denver workers reported excess shortness of breath and chest tightness, and 36% of Denver employees with preexisting asthma reported exacerbation of their asthma in relation to building occupancy, in contrast to none of the preexisting asthma cases in the suburban county agency.
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From page 318... ...
Attribution of asthma and asthma symptoms to specific building environments by the lay public far exceeds physician recognition of building-related asthma. One source of data regarding public concerns about building contributions to asthma are the requests from employees or management for Health Hazard Evaluations, a mandated service program of NIOSH.
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From page 319... ...
In contrast, one-third of 80 office buildings studied by NIOSH in 1993 in response to health hazard evaluation requests had prevalences of frequent work-related shortness of breath greater than 8%, ranging up to 24% (Malkin et al., 1996~. In conclusion, most buildings in which occupants have IAQ complaints probably do not have excesses of respiratory disease, but a substantial subset of "complaint" buildings may have occupants who associate their chest symptoms with building occupancy.
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From page 320... ...
TABLE 9-2 Relative Risks by Health Conclition for Environmental Factors Environmental Variable Postoccupancy Asthma Multiple Chest Symptoms Dirty filters 2.0 a 1.9 a Air intake debris 2.0 a 3.1 a Recent renovation with drywall 2.5 a 1.1 Ceiling panels 3.2 3.4 Daily surface cleaning 0.5 a 0.7 apt< .05.
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From page 321... ...
At present, little information is available regarding the relative health risks of these conditions. Absent risk assessment information, building occupants, tenants, and managers have little leverage to have these conditions fixed.
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From page 322... ...
Data gathered included air exchange rate, temperature, and relative humidity; airborne levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) , NO2, molds, and bacteria; and levels of endotoxin, and cat, dog and mite allergen in settled dust.
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From page 323... ...
One ongoing study of schools in the Chicago area is monitoring levels of a wide variety of potentially problematic agents including molds, dust mites, animal and insect allergens, particulates and various chemicals and other environmental characteristics such as ventilation and humidity. The study is also evaluating the effect of interventions including educational initiatives and integrated pest management.
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From page 324... ...
RES"RCH NEEDS The few available studies suggest the importance of building factors in relation to asthma, but further research is critical to assessing the attributable risks, remediable risk factors, and means of hazard assessment. Development of methods for representative quantitative assessment of bioaerosols of fungal and bacterial origin is a high priority for health outcome studies and hazard assessment.
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From page 325... ...
1999. Day care attendance in the first year of life and illnesses of the upper and lower respiratory tract in children with a familial history of atopy.
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From page 326... ...
1997. Lower respiratory illness, recurrent wheezing, and day care attendance.
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