Prevalence of sick building syndrome-related symptoms among hospital workers in confined and open working spaces

Abstract

Despite providing health care to others every day, people who work in a hospital are usually ignored about their healthy issue. This study is aimed to investigate the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS)-related symptoms among hospital workers. All participants in this study completed questionnaires during the year 2013. Indoor air pollutants, Carbon monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM) and Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as bacteria and fungi concentrations were recorded during sampling. Associations between SBS-related symptoms, individual characteristics, and chemical concentrations were evaluated by multiple linear regression. About 84% of the subjects suffered from at least one SBS-related symptom, among which the most frequently reported symptom was nasal symptoms, accounting for 66%. Chemicals such as CO2, PM, VOCs tended to be significantly associated with SBS-related symptoms. There are various effects depending on the type of chemicals present and whether the working spaces are open or confined.