Acute Pulmonary Function Impairment in School Staff Working in a 'Sick Building': A Pilot Study

Abstract

Energy-efficiency procedures in the form of the insulating of buildings and reducing ventilation synchronized with an increase in complaints from occu pants about discomfort and health effects. In the present paper, respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function in 17 subjects in a Swedish school with mechanical ventilation have been determined before and after a working week once each in winter and summer and once again in winter 1 year later. The total concentration of viable airborne mold fungi varied in the range of 332- 453 colony-forming units/m3 (normal limit 174). The predominating mold species were Penicillium (49%), followed by Cladosporium (28%) and Asper gillus (13%); the dominating symptoms were irritated mucous membranes (eyes, nose and throat), headache and/or sleepiness. Thirteen out of 15 sub jects exhibited a fall in forced vital capacity during a working week when examined in wintertime. This decrease was found among nonsmokers as well as smokers. Pulmonary function was unaltered during a working week in sum mertime. A principal component analysis of the variables job category, gen der, smoking habits, and symptoms of breathlessness, coughing, mucous membranes, headache and/or sleepiness identified three factors accounting for 77% of the total variability. Symptoms from lower airways were related to the pulmonary function impairment. The acute transient pulmonary function deterioration suggests the existence of deleterious effects in a moist environ ment with growth of microorganisms or other unmeasured exposures quanti tatively related to the microorganisms. These effects seem to be associated with whether or not the ventilation system was switched on.

Keywords

Symptoms from mucous membranes Mold Acute restrictive pulmonary deterioration Ventilation system

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