EPA's indoor-air-quality and work-environment survey: Relationships of employees' self-reported health symptoms with direct indoor-air-quality measurements

Technical Report · Fri Jun 07 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5232096

Nelson, C J; Clayton, C A; Wallace, L A; Highsmith, V R; Kollander, M

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
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
BUILDINGS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
DATA ANALYSIS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ENGINEERING
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
FEDERAL BUILDINGS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PERSONNEL
POLLUTION
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
STATISTICS
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WASHINGTON DC
WORKING CONDITIONS