Office Workers’ Sick Building Syndrome and Indoor Carbon Dioxide Concentrations

Abstract

This study attempted to determine whether any association exists between sick building syndrome (SBS) and indoor carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations. We evaluated SBS among 111 office workers in August and November 2003. The environmental conditions in the office, including CO₂ concentrations, temperature, relative humidity, and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), were continuously monitored. The most prevalent symptoms of the five SBS groups were eye irritation and nonspecific and upper respiratory symptoms. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) models show that workers exposed to indoor CO₂ levels greater than 800 ppm were likely to report more eye irritation or upper respiratory symptoms.

Keywords:

• carbon dioxide
• indoor air quality
• office worker
• sick building syndrome; ventilation rate
• carbon dioxide

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank all the study participants for their invaluable support. This investigation would not have been completed without their time and cooperation. This study was partially sponsored from National Science Council, Taiwan (NSC-97–2314-B-002–075-MY3). We would also like to thank Darren Hart for his assistance with English editing.