Sick Building Syndrome and Its Associating Factors at a Hospital in Kashan, Iran

Abstract

Background and purpose: Sick building syndrome (SBS) consists of a group symptoms, including fatigue, headache, nausea, nose irritation, dry skin and redness in which people in a building suffer from the symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the symptoms of SBS and its associated factors among staff at a hospital in Kashan, Iran. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted among all staff who volunteered to participate in the research. Totally, 41 subjects were surveyed for SBS symptoms. A MM040EA questionnaire was used to determine SBS among staff and indoor air quality. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests in SPSS Software version 16 were applied to analyze the collected data. Results: In general, the most prevalence symptoms of SBS were headache (85.4%), heaviness in the head (65.9%), low concentration, and dry skin (63.4%). The correlation was found to be not significant between SBS and age (P=0.46), gender (P=0.18), job (P=0.68), and working history (P=0.16). Also, the prevalence of SBS was significantly correlated with noise, low light, and unpleasant odor (P< 0.05).                                                                                                                               Conclusion: Accordingly, the high prevalence of SBS among staff and its relationship with factors such as unpleasant odor, noise, low light and the effect of the syndrome on the efficiency and the quality of working life, the improvement of lighting distribution and the reduction of noise were proposed for the reduction of SBS.

Keywords

• Sick building syndrome
• Staff
• Hospital
• Kashan