Symptoms and oxylipins in plasma before and after exposure to rooms in which individuals have both experienced and not experienced building-related symptoms – an exploratory study

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive data of the participants.

	Cases (n = 9)	Referents (n = 9)
Age (mean±SD^1)	48.6 ± 5.4	45.6 ± 5.4
Reported number of symptoms (mean, min–max)^2
Airway and mucosal symptoms, out of 10	5.8 (1–9)	0.5 (0–2)
Skin, out of 4	1.6 (0–4)	0.1 (0–1)
General symptoms, out of 6	1.1 (0–3)	0.1 (0–1)
Diagnoses (n)
Rheumatic disease	0	0
Disease in back, joints or muscles	2	1
Asthma	5	0
Allergy	4	2
Atopic dermatitis	1	0
Allergic rhinitis	2	0
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)	0	0
Migraine	2	1
Hypothyroid/goiter	0	0
Chronic fatigue syndrome	0	0
Exhaustion disorder (burnout)	2	0
Somatoform disorder	0	0
Generalised anxiety disorder	0	0
Panic disorder	0	0
Post-traumatic stress disorder	0	0
Depression	1	1

¹SD = Standard deviation.

²Symptoms reported at the workplace during the last month, used as inclusion criteria.

Table 2. The difference in oxylipin and 8-iso-PGF2α concentration between cases and referents in symptom rooms (SR) and control rooms (CR). The oxylipins were grouped into four groups depending on their biosynthetic pathway. Z-values according to Wilcoxon signed-rank test.

	∆median case-referent in CR	∆median case-referent in SR	Z	P
COX	−59.4	76.1	31	0.069
LOX-15	22.6	27.8	8	0.16
LOX-5	72.3	332	17	0.90
CYP	499	−419	11	0.33
8-iso-PGF2α	271	123	18	1.00

Figure 1. Mean (±Standard error, SE) reported intensity of mucosal, skin and general symptoms in symptom rooms (SR) and control rooms (CR).

Figure 2. The median differences in oxylipin concentration (grouped into four groups depending on the biosynthetic pathway) and concentration of 8-iso-PGF2α between case-referent in the SR (symptom rooms) and the CR (control rooms).

Figure 3. Spearman’s correlation between the mean reported intensity of symptoms and oxylipin concentration. The oxylipins were grouped into four groups depending on their biosynthetic pathway (a) COX, (b) 5-LOX-5, (c) 15-LOX, (d) CYP.