Prevalence of sick building syndrome in hospital staff and its relationship with indoor environmental quality

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS), and its relationship with indoor environmental quality in hospital settings. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 300 hospital staff in Sivas. MM 040 NA Hospital questionnaire was applied. In the hospital indoor environments, air quality (carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), oxygen (O₂), methane (CH₄), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), nitrogen oxides (NO_x)), lighting, noise, respirable dust and thermal comfort measurements were made. The prevalence of SBS was determined as 64.7–74.1% in the hospitals. It was found that the risk of SBS was 4.31 times higher for those who complained about variable room temperature and 3.11 times higher for those who complained about noise, and decreased 1.01 times with the increase in lighting level. In order to minimize the risk of SBS, it is thought that all healthcare administrators should be informed about SBS.

KEYWORDS:

• Sick building syndrome
• indoor environmental quality
• hospital staff

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of University Cumhuriyet (No. 2019-04/18).

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the Scientific Research Project Fund of Sivas Cumhuriyet University under the project number T-855; Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi, [T-855];Sivas/ Turkey.