Fading grid on green Commercial Building Ventilation and Indoor Environmental Quality
Home
Research
Publications
References
Staff
Links
Definition & Prevelances
Risk Factors
Corrective Measures

Sick Building Syndrome

Definition

Characteristics of buildings and indoor environments have been linked to the prevalence of acute building-related health symptoms, often called sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms, experienced by building occupants. SBS symptoms, may include irritation of eyes, nose, and skin, headache, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. These symptoms improve when the occupant is away from the building and are not related to any known disease or exposure.

Symptoms and Prevelance in Office Buildings

SBS symptoms and prevelances vary among buildings and with symptom type. Prevelances vary with symptom type and can be from 5 - 40%.

SBS and building type
Figure 1. CHBS: Significant Associations of Building and Work Factors with SBS Symptoms. (LBL-33684)
 
Table 1 Percent of occupants reporting selected characteristics and SBS symptoms in 100 buildings of the US EPA Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE). (LBNL-49584)
Variable 94-96 BASE Buildings 97-98 BASE Buildings P-valuea
% female 68.0 64.8 0.04
% > 40 years 53.2 57.5 0.01
% with carpet 89.9 90.5 0.50
% current smoker 15.5 14.0 0.24
% MM 27.9 26.3 0.30
% dry eyes 20.3 18.8 0.32
% sore throat 7.0 6.9 0.95
% nose/sinus 13.5 12.8 0.58
% LResp 8.8 7.7 0.29
% chest tight 2.4 2.2 0.72
% short breath 2.3 1.5 0.12
% cough 5.3 5.4 0.94
% wheeze 2.4 1.8 0.22
aChi-square, Fisher's exact test, two-sided

Next
Centrifugal symbol Home | Research | Publications | References | Staff | Links
Indoor Environment Department | EETD | LBNL | Webmaster | Content Master		 Centrifugal symbol