Evaluating the relative health of residents in newly built apartment houses according to the presence of indoor plants

Abstract

Mental health and physical condition of residents in newly built apartment houses in Seoul, Korea were evaluated considering indoor plant placement for two terms of observation. Residents demonstrated severe symptoms of sick building syndrome (SBS) for at least two years. Indoor plant placement alleviated the degree of SBS symptoms along with ventilation. Residents showed improvements in mental health during the period of ventilation, which was facilitated by the placement of indoor plants. The placement of indoor plants failed to make significant differences in the vital capacity or blood indices of residents, but led to slight improvements in some factors like forced vital capacity (FVC) and change in total immunoglobulin E levels (T-IgE). From the results above, it could be postulated that the placement of indoor plants alone was not enough to reduce the level of indoor toxic chemical substances. Therefore, the placement of indoor plants could be an environmentally friendly method to reduce the levels of toxic chemical substances with the supplementary application of ventilation. © 2010 JSHS.