Indoor Air, Oct 2006 re: Assessment of buildings perceived as having SBS

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Indoor Air. 2006 Oct;16(5):383-91. Links

Multivariate evaluation of VOCs in buildings where people with non-

specific building-related symptoms perceive health problems and in

buildings where they do not

A.-L. Sunesson1, I. Rosén1, B. Stenberg2, M. Sjöström3

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were sampled in buildings where

people with non-specific building-related symptoms perceive health

problems and in buildings where they do not. In total, nine persons

and 34 buildings were included in the study. The obtained VOC data

was evaluated using multivariate methods, to investigate possible

systematic differences in air quality of 'problem' and 'non-problem'

buildings. All individual compounds were included as variables in a

multivariate partial least squares (PLS) data analysis. 'Problem'

and 'non-problem' buildings separated into two distinct groups,

showing that air samples of the two groups of building were

chemically different.

Practical Implications

The study showed that there was an identifiable systematic

difference in the collected VOC data between buildings causing and

not causing problems for people with non-specific building-related

symptoms (also called sick building syndrome, SBS). This is an

important indication that even such volatile organic compounds that

can be sampled by commonly used adsorbents are of importance for the

presence of such symptoms. By coordination of procedures for

sampling and analysis of VOCs in buildings between laboratories, to

get large datasets and more general models, the method can become a

useful diagnostic measure in evaluating indoor air and to identify

chemical compounds and sources that contribute to SBS problems.