Background and purpose: Sick building syndrome consists of a group symptoms, including fatigue, headache, nausea, nose irritation, dry skin and redness in which people in a building suffer from the symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the symptoms of SBS and its associated factors among staff at a hospital in Kashan, Iran.
Materials and Methods:The present study was conducted among all staff who volunteered to participate in the research. Totally, 41 subjects were surveyed for SBS symptoms. A MM040EA questionnaire was used to determine SBS among staff and indoor air quality. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests in SPSS Software version 16 were applied to analyze the collected data.
Results:In general, the most prevalence symptoms of SBS were headache (85.4%), heaviness in the head (65.9%), low concentration, and dry skin (63.4%). The correlation was found to be not significant between SBS and age (P=0.46), gender (P=0.18), job (P=0.68), and working history (P=0.16). Also, the prevalence of SBS was significantly correlated with noise, low light, and unpleasant odor (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Accordingly, the high prevalence of SBS among staff and its relationship with factors such as unpleasant odor, noise, low light and the effect of the syndrome on the efficiency and the quality of working life, the improvement of lighting distribution and the reduction of noise were proposed for the reduction of SBS.
Exposure to the particulate matter is related to a variety of acute and chronic health effects. Also, it is an important factor in the indoor air quality in hospitals. The present study aimed to determine the effect of meteorological parameters on the indoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in the operation room, pediatric, and intensive care unit wards in the hospital in Kashan, Iran. The PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were measured at two indoor sites and one outdoor site in each one of the wards from March to May 2015. Also, the wind rose was drawn for determining the Prevailing wind. The mean indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations increased during the study period. The results obtained of wind rose showed that the prevailing wind (4.5% of the entire winds) was the direction of the west-southwest. Also, the highest mean outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were related to the ambient wind directions of the east-northeast, the west, and the north-northwest in the operation room, pediatric and intensive care unit wards, respectively. According to the findings, there was a positive association between the indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in the wards. Also, the meteorological parameters played an important role in the indoor particle mass concentrations in the study wards in the hospital. The effective meteorological parameters on the particle concentrations were the ambient temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, and rainfall in the hospital. It is asking for improving the indoor air quality of managers and officials to protect the patients and staff against transferred diseases by the particles in the wards in the hospital.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.