Association of Ventilation Rates and CO2 Concentrations with Health and Other Responses in Commercial and Institutional Buildings

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fisk WJ ; Mendell MJ ; Seppanen OA
• Description:
  This paper reviews current literature on the associations of ventilation rates and carbon dioxide concentrations in nonresidential and non-industrial buildings (primarily offices) with health and other human outcomes. Twenty studies, with close to 30,000 subjects, investigated the association of ventilation rates with human responses, and 21 studies, with over 30,000 subjects, investigated the association of carbon dioxide concentration with these responses. Almost all studies found that ventilation rates below 10 Ls(-1) per person in all building types were associated with statistically significant worsening in one or more health or perceived air quality outcomes. Some studies determined that increases in ventilation rates above 10 Ls(-1) per person, up to approximately 20 Ls(-1) per person, were associated with further significant decreases in the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms or with further significant improvements in perceived air quality. The carbon dioxide studies support these findings. About half of the carbon dioxide studies suggest that the risk of sick building syndrome symptoms continued to decrease significantly with decreasing carbon dioxide concentrations below 800 ppm. The ventilation studies reported relative risks of 1.5-2 for respiratory illnesses and 1.1-6 for sick building syndrome symptoms for low compared to high low ventilation rates. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Respiratory Hypersensitivity Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Air-monitoring Air-quality Air-quality-control Air-quality-measurement Air-samples Air-sampling-techniques Gas-adsorption Gases Inhalation-studies Respiration Respiratory-hypersensitivity Respiratory-system-disorders Ventilation-equipment Ventilation-systems

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• ISSN:
  0905-6947
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  226-252
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032675
• Citation:
  Indoor Air 1999 Dec; 9(4):226-252
• Contact Point Address:
  WJ Fisk, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Indoor Environment Department, Environment Energy and Technology Division, Berkeley, CA 94720
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon dioxide (CAS RN 124-38-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Indoor Air
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f734dd06de94884195dac3effbcce7951022c908285d0e3bbb383e86caedabf5d90ed265fbaa9df9e27668ca5934def66e6eab682c302d142c3fa1447dade7df
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186564/cdc_186564_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 335.30 KB ]