Low-Cost Interventions to Improve Ventilation in Long-Term Care Facilities

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cohen MA ; Croteau, Gerry ; Doe RL ; Srikanth P
• Description:
  Residents of long-term care facilities are particularly vulnerable to communicable diseases. Low-cost interventions to increase air exchange rates (AERs) may be useful in reducing the transmission of airborne communicable diseases between long-term care residents and staff. In this study, carbon dioxide gas was used as a tracer to evaluate the AER associated with the implementation of low-cost ventilation interventions. Under baseline conditions with the room's door closed, the mean AER was 0.67 ACH; while baseline conditions with the door open had a significantly higher mean AER of 3.87 ACH (p < 0.001). Subsequently opening a window with the door open increased mean AER by 1.49 ACH (p = 0.012) and adding a fan in the window further increased mean AER by 1.87 ACH (p < 0.001). Regression analyses indicated that the flow rate of air entering through the window, both passively and through the use of a fan, was significantly associated with an increase in AER (p < 0.001). These results indicate that low-cost interventions that pull outside air into resident rooms were effective in improving the air exchange rates in these facilities. While implementation of these interventions is dependent on facility rules and isolation requirements of residents with airborne communicable diseases, these interventions remain viable options for long-term care facilities to improve resident room ventilation without requiring costly ventilation system upgrades. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Communicable Diseases Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Airborne Communicable Diseases Author Keywords: Air Exchange Rate COVID-19 IAQ Indoor Air Quality Indoor Environments Infectious Diseases Intervention Effectiveness Occupational Hygiene
• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  379-388
• Volume:
  21
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069589
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2024 Jun; 21(6):379-388
• Contact Point Address:
  Martin A. Cohen, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington School of Public Health, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Suite 100, Seattle, Washington 98105
• Email:
  mcohen@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d41e7057b1a154901e7a589bee114d8754cd9dd803cd1d86782dbaffa09918f7c284ce986d5e58dcb548484897ce615eed18a8424322dcc866440d5fab25055a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/207993/cdc_207993_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.48 MB ]