Assessment of regional fungal concentrations and diversity and their possible association with self-reported health effects among a national sample of office building occupants in the United States

Abstract

Data from the Environmental Protection Agency's Building Assessment and Survey Evaluation (BASE) study was analyzed for culturable fungi detected in air samples collected from 100 office buildings located among ten climate regions in the United States. Fungi identified and quantified in the study were evaluated in indoor and outdoor environments. Evenness of species for both summer and winter, and the diversity and similarity indices of species were calculated between climate region groups in order to observe potential climatebased differences in the fungal microbiome. Respiratory and neurological health symptoms of study building occupants (n = 4,326) were self-reported by questionnaire, and were analyzed in order to assess seasonal and climate differences. v