Ventilation (estimated three ways) and building-related symptoms in U.S. office buildings - The U.S. EPA BASE study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Apte MG ; Lei-Gomez Q ; Mendell MJ
• Description:
  We investigated relationships between ventilation rate (VR) and building-related symptoms in office workers, using adjusted logistic regression models with data from 87 office buildings in the U.S. EPA BASE study. We based three VR estimators on: peak indoor minus outdoor carbon dioxide (CO2), volumetric estimates of flow rates, and CO2 ratio in airstreams. Increased VR by the first two estimators was associated with decreased lower respiratory, upper respiratory, and eye symptoms, whereas increase in the third VR estimator was associated only with decreased upper respiratory symptoms. VR from 3 to 14 Ls(-1) per person or more above the current 10 Ls(-1) per person target levels for offices were generally associated with 6-48% reduced odds for these symptoms. Low occupant density, even with adjustment for VR, was independently associated with decreased symptoms. VRs above current target levels thus might substantially reduce symptoms in office workers, with occupant density playing an additional, unrecognized role in ventilation requirements. Reliable VR measurements are necessary to clarify these relationships. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Health Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Ventilation Workplace
• Keywords:
  Air-quality-measurement Author Keywords: Ventilation Environmental-health Environmental-health-monitoring Indoor-environmental-quality Indoor Air Quality Mathematical-models Office Workers Qualitative-analysis Statistical-analysis Symptoms Ventilation-systems Work-environment Worker-health Workplace-studies

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• Publisher:
  International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038427
• Citation:
  Proceedings of Indoor Air '08, The 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, August 17-22, 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark. Santa Cruz, CA: International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ), 2008 Aug; :158
• Email:
  mjmendell@lbl.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Work Environment and Workforce: Indoor Environment
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  Proceedings of Indoor Air '08, The 11th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality and Climate, August 17-22, 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark
• End Date:
  20080831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f622eede6db429f371c0cec6c962497145871c5b564df388f6fd0a9c36fa07f73d6fb7b219a49bb172e68c619db189552827ec42743e55093aa1c8b2d4417446
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192141/cdc_192141_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 51.77 KB ]