Review: The Applicability of Epidemiological Methods to the Assessment of the Risks to Human Health of Indoor Air Pollution: An Overview

Abstract

Western populations spend the vast majority of their time indoors, and can be exposed to a range of indoor pollutants that may have adverse effects on health. Scientists and regulators need to be able to understand and quantify the nature of the potential risks posed by the indoor environment. Epidemiological methods are available to investigate relationships between indoor pollutant exposure and health impacts, but involve many assumptions and have inherent uncertainties. To establish an accurate understanding of the knowledge base and a sound interpretation of the significance of the results obtained, it is essential that epidemiological study findings are not accepted uncritically and that the advantages/weaknesses of each design are fully understood. This overview identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the various epidemiological techniques used to study indoor air pollution, and considers the place of epidemiological data within the wider weight of evidence considerations necessary to establish causality of associations and accurately determine potential risk.It is evident that epidemiology remains a key science in the study of associations between indoor air pollutants and diseases like asthma, and a number of recommendations are made that may improve the application of this methodology and the interpretation of derived results.

A study on the application of sorptive building materials to reduce the concentration and volume of contaminants inhaled by occupants in office areas

“…Accordingly, the incidence rate of harmful diseases such as Sick House Syndrome and Sick Building Syndrome has been increasing [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Particularly for offices in high-rise buildings, in which the ventilation of the occupants' space is entirely mechanical, the decline in indoor air quality in office areas affects the occupants' health and work efficiency, consequently resulting in economic loss.…”

Diagnostics of Unsatisfactory Indoor Air Quality in Air-Conditioned Workplaces

“…For other kinds of health concerns such as cancer, infections and persistent toxic reactions, however, objective measurements would be more appropriate. IAQ assessment parameters based on IAQ-related human health and/or the adverse effects due to indoor environmental factors, such as air-conditioning system and pollution, emissions from building materials and ingress of traffic fumes, have been suggested for practical application [3][4][5].…”

A Lifecycle Health Performance Tree for Sustainable Healthy Buildings

“…Khoder et al studied the loading rate of dust, Pb, Cd and Ni, and the mass concentration of metals in settled surface dust in domestic houses [7]. Brown, Holmes and Harrison researched the applicability of epidemiological methods to the assessment of the risks to human health due to indoor air pollution [8]. Dascalaki and Sermpetzoglou studied the indoor environment quality in school buildings [9].…”

“…Therefore, the evaluation method should be flexible to encompass consideration of all factors, including occupants' age, period of stay and activities in the space. However, works conducted up to now, including design or case studies on healthy buildings [3,4], health performance of specific factors such as air quality and light quality [5][6][7][8][9], health-related factors or evaluation items of buildings [1,4], and building configuration factors [10,11], which do not provide the criteria for an overall health performance evaluation.…”