Respiratory Morbidity and Medical Visits Associated with Dampness and Air-Conditioning in Offices and Homes

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cox-Ganser, Jean M. ; Park, Ju-Hyeong ; Sahakian, Nancy
• Description:
  We used data from 4345 adult US residents who were part of a 2004 national random mail survey to investigate associations between dampness and air-conditioning (AC) in homes and offices, and health outcomes, sick leave due to respiratory symptoms and medical visits during the past 12 months. We identified from this group 1396 office workers employed in professional, executive, administrative, managerial or administrative support occupations. Office workers reporting home dampness had an elevated prevalence of nasal symptoms [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.4, P = 0.01] and constitutional symptoms (PR = 1.3, P = 0.01) in the previous year. Office workers reporting workplace dampness had an elevated prevalence of sick leave attributed to respiratory symptoms (PR = 1.3, P = 0.04) in the previous year. Office workers with home AC were more likely to have visited a medical specialist in the previous year (PR = 1.3, P = 0.02). We did not find any statistically significant associations between workplace AC and any of the health outcomes. We estimated an annual cost of US$1.4 billion for excess respiratory-related sick leave among office workers with workplace dampness. Our study strengthens the evidence of a relationship between dampness and health effects, and highlights the resulting economic impact. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Conditioning Air Pollution, Indoor Asthma Asthma, Occupational Environmental Health Epidemiology Fungi Morbidity Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Ventilation

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• Keywords:
  Air-conditioning Author Keywords: Indoor Air Quality Healthcare Visits Humans Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Mold Molds Morbidity-rates Office-workers Office Buildings Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Respiratory Symptoms Sick Leave Statistical-analysis Ventilation-systems

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• ISSN:
  0905-6947
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  58-67
• Volume:
  19
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034952
• Citation:
  Indoor Air 2009 Feb; 19(1):58-67
• Contact Point Address:
  Nancy Sahakian, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, United States Public Health Service, 1095 Willowdale Road, Mailstop H2800, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Email:
  nsahakian@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Indoor Air
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:47727fed9269f17d8913ca0c2320a0fa520ff3ead27d72f8cd7485d71ec5acdd5a6a933045210b85c9fc0c33dec1a37bd17c223fc4f89cead45feb26717b05f8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186963/cdc_186963_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 112.17 KB ]