EPA's indoor-air-quality and work-environment survey: Relationships of employees' self-reported health symptoms with direct indoor-air-quality measurements
In recent years, employees at the three headquarters buildings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Washington, D.C. area have expressed concerns about air quality and work environment discomforts. As part of a large-scale study of health and comfort concerns, environmental monitoring was carried out in March 1989 at approximately 100 sites (rooms) within these buildings. Employees in the vicinity of the monitors were administered a brief questionnaire to elicit information regarding their work environment, comfort levels, odors noticed, health symptoms, mood states, and perceptions of overall air quality. Statistical analyses were carried out for the 191 males and the 192 females for whom both questionnaire and monitoring data were available. The analyses entailed estimation of linear regression and logistic regression models aimed at testing for associations between the employees' responses and the environmental measurements, which included temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and particlate concentrations (100 sites), and various microbiologic and volatile organic compound concentrations (subset of 56 sites). Principal component analyses were used to develop some of the outcome and explanatory variables used in the models. In the paper, the authors describe the study design, the study limitations, the statistical models and methods, and the results and implications of the data analysis.
- Research Organization:
- Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
- OSTI ID:
- 5232096
- Report Number(s):
- PB-91-213579/XAB
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Presented at IAQ 91, 'Healthy Buildings' held in Washington, DC. on September 4-8, 1991. Prepared in cooperation with Research Triangle Inst., Research Triangle Park, NC., Maryland Univ. at Baltimore, and Yale Univ., New Haven, CT
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CARBON DIOXIDE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
FEDERAL BUILDINGS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARTICULATES
WASHINGTON DC
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
DATA ANALYSIS
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
PERSONNEL
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
US EPA
WORKING CONDITIONS
AIR POLLUTION
BUILDINGS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENGINEERING
MATHEMATICS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
POLLUTION
STATISTICS
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)