Predicting sick building syndrome at the individual and aggregate levels

Abstract A sample of 4479 workers from 27 air conditioned office buildings completed a questionnaire on environmental conditions, sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms, job satisfaction, job stress, and occupational and personal information while indoor air quality measures were taken. Indoor air quality met current American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) guidelines in all buildings. Logistic regression analyses conducted for individual symptoms revealed environmental correlates for workers' reports of environmental conditions, but few environmental correlates for reports of SBS symptoms. The number of SBS symptoms per worker was related linearly to computer use, job stress, job satisfaction, number of allergies, migraine, and eye wear, with separate intercepts necessary for each gender and interactions of gender with age and perceived indoor air quality (PIAQ). Allergy did not replace gender in the regression equations. Effects of environmental conditions and SBS symptoms on work disruption were assessed.

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