Relationship between indoor chemical concentrations and subjective symptoms associated with sick building syndrome in newly built houses in Japan

Takigawa, Tomoko; Wang, Bingling; Saijo, Yasuaki; Morimoto, Kanehisa; Nakayama, Kotaro; Tanaka, Masatoshi; Shibata, Eiji; Yoshimura, Takesumi; Chikara, Hisao; Oginö, Kazuhíde; Kishi, Reiko

doi:10.1007/s00420-009-0475-9

Cited by 88 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Formaldehyde can be emitted from indoor sources but can also be formed at photochemical reactions in the outdoor air (Guo et al, 2004). We found no previous study on associations between formaldehyde levels in schools and SBS symptoms among students, but some previous studies have found association between formaldehyde levels in homes and SBS-symptoms (Sahlberg et al, 2013;Guo et al, 2013;Takigawa et al, 2010;Takigawa et al, 2012), but at much higher levels than in our school study. It could be speculated that the source of formaldehyde in our study could be reactive indoor or outdoor chemistry.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

“…One study in newly built detached houses in Sapporo found that formaldehyde and alfa-pinene concentration in indoor air were higher in homes with SBS (Takeda et al, 2009). One larger study in newly built dwellings in six prefectures from northern to southern Japan found that formaldehyde, but not specific VOC or TVOC, were associated with SBS (Takigawa et al, 2010). One study from Dalian, China, found positive associations between 1,1,1-trichloroethane, xylene, butanol, methyl isobutyl ketone, and styrene concentrations in homes and current SBS (Guo et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue

Norbäck

Hashim

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

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• Xylene, formaldehyde and NO 2 in schools in Malaysia can be associated with fatigue among students.• Formaldehyde and NO 2 in the classrooms can be associated with ocular symptoms.• The indoor and outdoor levels of benzene were often above the EU standard for ambient air. This paper studied associations between volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in schools in Malaysia and rhinitis, ocular, nasal and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue among students. Pupils from eight randomly selected junior high schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (N = 462), participated (96%). VOC, formaldehyde and NO 2 were measured by diffusion sampling (one week) and VOC also by pumped air sampling during class. Associations were calculated by multi-level logistic regression adjusting for personal factors, the home environment and microbial compounds in the school dust. The prevalence of weekly rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms were 18.8%, 11.6%, 15.6%, and 11.1%, respectively. Totally 20.6% had weekly headache and 22.1% fatigue. Indoor CO 2 were low (range 380-690 ppm). Indoor median NO 2 and formaldehyde concentrations over one week were 23 μg/m 3 and 2.0 μg/m G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v in schools can be risk factors for ocular and throat symptoms and fatigue among students in Malaysia. The indoor and outdoor levels of benzene were often higher than the EU standard of 5 μg/m 3 .

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 62%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue

Norbäck

Hashim

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

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“…The conclusion confirmed the existence of a positive association between MVOCs, formaldehyde and the plasticizer texanol with appearance of symptoms of sick buildings, namely mucosal symptoms. On the other hand, Takigawa et al (2010) investigated the possible relationship between chemical substances and SBS symptoms of residents living in newly constructed houses in Japan. The results demonstrated the positive association between existence of VOCs and aldehydes with optical, nasal, and gular symptoms.…”

Section: Sbs Contributors Symptoms and Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The occurrence of SBS can be recognized in various environments such as office spaces (Lim et al 2015;Magnavita 2015;Tsai, Lin, and Chan 2012), residential environments (Engvall et al 2010;Takigawa et al 2010Takigawa et al , 2012, schools (Norbäck et al 2016a(Norbäck et al , 2016bSaijo et al 2010;Shan et al 2016;Takaoka, Suzuki, and Norbäck 2016), universities (Ahmad and Hassim 2015) or hospitals (Chang et al 2015;Loupa, Fotopoulou, and Tsagarakis 2015;Wang et al 2015). The core symptoms of SBS may concern with the health status of occupants, either physically or mentally.…”

Section: Sbs Contributors Symptoms and Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sick building syndrome: are we doing enough?

AlWaer

Omrany

Ghaffarianhoseini

et al. 2018

Architectural Science Review

172

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Health and well-being are vitally important aspects of people centric building design and are the roots of productivity. Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a collection of factors that can negatively affect physical health in several ways. Besides physical health is also related to psychological well-being because the human body is one interactive biological system. This paper focuses on reviewing the current state of knowledge on building sickness syndrome which has been prevalent as a building illness since the 1970s especially in offices and schools. While the concepts of intelligent, smart and sustainable buildings have gained considerable attention during recent decades, there is now increasing attention being given to designing healthy buildings. This study provides a review about SBS symptoms. Several negative effects of SBS are identified and potential solutions are advocated. Finally, the study stresses the role of built environment and concludes that ongoing research towards tackling SBS and developing healthy indoor environments should not be limited to a single formula as any health-related building design approach is dependent on several interacting factors. ARTICLE HISTORY

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“…In 2003, preliminary questionnaires on indoor-air quality had been sent to randomly selected single-family homes, which had all been constructed less than seven years ago; 2297 households responded (a response rate of 41.1%) . Of the responding households, 425 agreed to home visits for environmental measurements in 2004 (Saijo et al, 2011;Takigawa et al, 2010). The first follow-up was conducted with 270 households in 2005 and the second follow-up was conducted with 182 households in 2006.…”

Section: Study Populationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between exposure to microbial volatile organic compound and allergy prevalence in single-family homes

Araki

Kanazawa

Kawai

et al. 2012

Science of The Total Environment

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Microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) are a type of VOCs produced by microorganisms. Exposure to 1-octen-3-ol, one of the known MVOCs, has been reported to reduce nasal patency and increase nasal lavage myeloperoxidase, eosinophil cationic proteins, and lysozymes in both experimental and field studies. We reported in a previous paper that 1-octen-3-ol exposure at home is associated with mucosal symptoms. In this study, our aim was to investigate the relationship between asthma and allergies and MVOC exposure in single-family homes. The subjects were 624 inhabitants of 182 detached houses in six regions of Japan. Air samples were collected using diffusive samplers, and the concentrations of eight selected MVOCs were analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in selected-ion-monitoring mode. Each inhabitant of each of the dwellings was given a self-administered questionnaire. Among the 609 subjects who answered all of the questions about allergies, history of the medical treatment for asthma, atopic dermatitis, allergic rhinitis, and allergic conjunctivitis within the past two years was 4.8%, 9.9%, 18.2%, and 7.1 %, respectively. A significant association between 1-octen-3-ol (per log 10 unit) and allergic rhinitis odds ratio (OR): 4.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.71 to 9.80 and conjunctivitis (OR: 3.54, CI: 1.17 to 10.7) was found after adjusting for age, sex, environmental-tobacco-smoke exposure, wall-to-wall carpeting in the home, signs of dampness, history of treatment for hay fever, and other potentially relevant environmental factors. No relationships were found between any MVOCs and asthma or atopic dermatitis after the adjustment. The levels of MVOCs and airborne fungi were only weakly correlated. These results are consistent with previous studies that have associated higher levels of 1-octen-3-ol exposure with increased irritation of nasal 4 and ocular mucosae. Although the indoor-air concentrations of 1-octen-3-ol found in this study were relatively low, we conclude that exposure to MVOC may be related to rhinitis and conjunctivitis.

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Relationship between indoor chemical concentrations and subjective symptoms associated with sick building syndrome in newly built houses in Japan

Abstract: Chemicals detected in Japanese newly built houses tend to increase the risk of subjective symptoms in residents suffering from SBS.

Cited by 88 publications

References 21 publications

Volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue

Volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue

Sick building syndrome: are we doing enough?

The relationship between exposure to microbial volatile organic compound and allergy prevalence in single-family homes

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