Sick building syndrome--a disease of modern age

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1: Srp Arh Celok Lek. 2004 Jul-Aug;132(7-8):240-5.Related Articles, Links

[sick building syndrome--a disease of modern age]

[Article in Serbian]

[No authors listed]

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a term used to describe situation in building

when more

than 30% of occupants suffer from various symptoms which tend to increase by

severity

during the time people spend in " sick " building and disappear when they leave

the

building. Typical cases of SBS report vague symptoms, which cannot be

objectively

measured, and sufferers usually show no clinical signs of illness. Symptom

heterogeneity

suggests that they do not represent a single disorder. The objective of our

study was to

establish if SBS is present in our town because new buildings have been built

lately

producing the artificial environment--exclusively artificial lightning and

mechanical

ventilation. A total of 812 subjects were included in our study. The

investigation of SBS

was performed by standardized questionnaires to determine the prevalence of

symptoms and

complaints. Questionnaires were used to collect data on perception of

environment

conditions and health during the period they work in this building. The

subjects were

divided in three groups according to sex, level of education and ownership. Our

data

suggested that the incidence of symptoms was higher in employers than in owners

of the

offices. Moreover, the prevalence of SBS was very high-up to 74.76%. It is

obvious that

certain physical, psychological and organizational factors are involved in the

incidence

of symptoms, but our investigation suggests that physical factor has a dominant

role in

development of symptoms, particularly low humidity and low air flow. In

addition, our

judgment is that SBS exists in our city, probably in the whole country and,

therefore, it

must be investigated properly.

PMID: 15615181 [PubMed - in process]