A Prevalence Study Of The Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) And Facial Skin Symptoms In Office Workers

Stenerg, Berndt; Mild, Kjell Hansson; Sandström, Monica; Sundell, Jan; Wall, Stig

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.1993.t01-2-00002.x

Cited by 89 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Five of these found the number of office workers to be positively associated with prevalence of symptoms. This is in accordance with recent studies (7,(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

supporting

confidence: 94%

Sickness absence associated with shared and open-plan offices – a national cross sectional questionnaire survey

Pejtersen¹,

Feveile²,

Christensen³

et al. 2011

Scand J Work Environ Health

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The following articles refer to this text: 2011;37 (5) Original article Scand J Work Environ Health 2011;37(5):376-382. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3167 Sickness absence associated with shared and open-plan offices -a national cross sectional questionnaire survey Objective The aim of this study was to examine whether shared and open-plan offices are associated with more days of sickness absence than cellular offices comprising one occupant. MethodsThe analysis was based on a national survey of Danish inhabitants between 18-59 years of age (response rate 62%), and the study population consisted of the 2403 employees that reported working in offices. The different types of offices were characterized according to self-reported number of occupants in the space. The log-linear Poisson model was used to model the number of self-reported sickness absence days depending on the type of office; the analysis was adjusted for age, gender, socioeconomic status, body mass index, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, and physical activity during leisure time.Results Sickness absence was significantly related to having a greater number of occupants in the office (P<0.001) when adjusting for confounders. Compared to cellular offices, occupants in 2-person offices had 50% more days of sickness absence [rate ratio (RR) 1.50, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13-1.98], occupants in 3-6-person offices had 36% more days of sickness absence (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.08-1.73), and occupants in open-plan offices (>6 persons) had 62% more days of sickness absence (RR 1.62, 95% CI 1.30-2.02). ConclusionOccupants sharing an office and occupants in open-plan offices (>6 occupants) had significantly more days of sickness absence than occupants in cellular offices.

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“…Five of these found the number of office workers to be positively associated with prevalence of symptoms. This is in accordance with recent studies (7,(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

supporting

confidence: 94%

Sickness absence associated with shared and open-plan offices – a national cross sectional questionnaire survey

Pejtersen¹,

Feveile²,

Christensen³

et al. 2011

Scand J Work Environ Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, before generalising it is prudent to examine potentially confounding factors. Many contributors to the SBS research literature have emphasised the inclusion of psycho-social or work-related factors when investigating sex differences [30,37,46,61]. That is, the frequently reported female occupants' health symptoms or complaints could be influenced by personal or occupational characteristics unrelated to indoor environment such as job-related stress, lack of control of work, low job pride resulting from low position within the organisational hierarchy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these studies, logistic regression was the usual data analytic approach, treating gender as the predictor of SBS symptom prevalence. The likelihood of having SBS symptoms quantified by odds ratio (OR) was higher among females than males [13,21,40,46].…”

Section: Kim J De Dear R Cândido C Zhang H Arens E 2013 Gender mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in office occupant perception of indoor environmental quality (IEQ)

Kim

Dear

Cândido

et al. 2013

Building and Environment

204

100

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This paper investigates the gender differences in the occupants' perception on various aspects of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) by two lines of inquiry; Firstly, a comprehensive literature survey spanning the research areas of indoor air quality (IAQ), sick building syndrome (SBS), thermal comfort, lighting, and acoustics was conducted. Secondly, statistical analyses were performed on a large, predominantly North American Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) database (N=38,257).Statistical analyses indicated that female occupants' satisfaction levels were consistently lower than male occupants for all fifteen IEQ factors (including thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, acoustics, office layout & furnishings, and cleanliness & maintenance) addressed in POE questionnaire, and the differences were statistically significant. Logistic regression analysis identified a significant association between female gender and dissatisfaction with individual IEQ factors. Those gender differences quantified by odds ratios (OR) were most pronounced for dissatisfaction with thermal environment, IAQ, and workspace cleanliness. The analyses produced consistent results, even after potential confounding factors such as age and work characteristics were controlled.

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“…Many patients with suspicious SHS or MCS have past histories of allergies or complications with allergies (Hasegawa et al 2005). On the other hand, dermatitis and atopy are risk factors in SBS (Stenberg et al 1993;Hodgson 1995). It seems that a history of allergies or dermatitis can account for the development of symptoms in many cases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classification of Patients Complaining of Sick House Syndrome and/or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Ishibashi

Tonori

Miki

et al. 2007

Tohoku J. Exp. Med.

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Sick house syndrome (SHS) is a Japanese concept derived from sick building syndrome (SBS), however SHS includes a broader scope of sickness than does SBS. Symptoms of SHS/ SBS disappear after leaving the sick house/building, while symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are elicited by the chance of chemical exposure after leaving the sick house/building. To establish the concept of SHS, we propose to introduce a new classification for SHS. A total of 214 patients complaining of SHS and/or MCS were independently classified using a new classification by clinical ecologists who are experienced physicians with expert knowledge of clinical ecology and general physicians according to disease pathogenesis from clinical records. The classification is as follows: type 1 (symptoms of chemical intoxication), type 2 (symptoms developed possibly due to chemical exposure), type 3 (symptoms developed not because of chemical exposure but rather because of psychological or mental factors), and type 4 (symptoms developed due to allergies or other diseases). The agreements on the classification made by clinical ecologists and general physicians reached 77.1% (Cohen's kappa = 0.631), suggesting that this new classification was both apt and accurate. Relations between SHS and allergy/MCS were also studied. The cases classified as SHS type 4 more frequently had allergic past histories than did other types. The proportion of possible MCS cases was higher in the chemical induced SHS group (types 1 and 2) than in other types among male patients. For the universal use in clinical practice, it is necessary to prepare helpful diagnostic criteria of this SHS classification based on pathogenesis and carry our study forward all over the country. sick house syndrome; sick building syndrome; multiple chemical sensitivity; Quick Environment Exposure Sensitivity Inventory; allergy

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A Prevalence Study Of The Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) And Facial Skin Symptoms In Office Workers

Cited by 89 publications

References 13 publications

Sickness absence associated with shared and open-plan offices – a national cross sectional questionnaire survey

Sickness absence associated with shared and open-plan offices – a national cross sectional questionnaire survey

Gender differences in office occupant perception of indoor environmental quality (IEQ)

Classification of Patients Complaining of Sick House Syndrome and/or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

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