scholarly journals Relation between occupants’ health problems, demographic and indoor environment subjective evaluations: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey study in Java Island, Indonesia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254460
Author(s):  
Solli Murtyas ◽  
Nishat T. Toosty ◽  
Aya Hagishima ◽  
N. H. Kusumaningdyah
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Thermal Discomfort ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality

This study aimed to evaluate the link between health problems, demographic factors, and the indoor environment quality of residents in Indonesia. We conducted a cross-sectional design study through a questionnaire survey with 443 respondents aged between 12 and 81 years. The questionnaire was concerned with previous health problem occurrences associated with thermal discomfort experiences, indoor environments, economic conditions, and basic anthropometric factors. Logistic regression with the odds ratio (OR) was applied to evaluate the tendency of different respondent groups to suffer from certain health problems, when compared to reference groups. Furthermore, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to incorporate certain factors (economic conditions, thermal discomfort experiences, and perceived indoor environments) into a single model to understand their direct and indirect effects on health conditions. The results indicate that economic conditions are the most significantly associated with health problems. Furthermore, we found that the low-income group was the most vulnerable to health problems, including coughing, puking, diarrhoea, odynophagia, headaches, fatigue, rheumatism, fidgeting, skin rashes, muscle cramps, and insomnia (OR: 1.94–6.04, p <0.05). Additionally, the SEM suggested that the respondents’ economic conditions and thermal discomfort experiences had significant direct effects on their health problems with standardized estimates of -0.29 and 0.55, respectively. Additionally, perceived indoor environment quality, which is possible to cause thermal discomfort experience, indirectly affect health problems. These findings contribute an insightful and intuitive knowledge base which can aid health assessments associated with demographic and physical environments in developing sustainable and healthy environment strategies for the future.

scholarly journals Healthy Indoor Environments: The Need for a Holistic Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 1874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aneta Wierzbicka ◽  
Eja Pedersen ◽  
Roger Persson ◽  
Birgitta Nordquist ◽  
Kristian Stålne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
Health And Well Being

Indoor environments have a large impact on health and well-being, so it is important to understand what makes them healthy and sustainable. There is substantial knowledge on individual factors and their effects, though understanding how factors interact and what role occupants play in these interactions (both causative and receptive) is lacking. We aimed to: (i) explore interactions between factors and potential risks if these are not considered from holistic perspective; and (ii) identify components needed to advance research on indoor environments. The paper is based on collaboration between researchers from disciplines covering technical, behavioural, and medical perspectives. Outcomes were identified through literature reviews, discussions and workshops with invited experts and representatives from various stakeholder groups. Four themes emerged and were discussed with an emphasis on occupant health: (a) the bio-psycho-social aspects of health; (b) interaction between occupants, buildings and indoor environment; (c) climate change and its impact on indoor environment quality, thermal comfort and health; and (d) energy efficiency measures and indoor environment. To advance the relevant research, the indoor environment must be considered a dynamic and complex system with multiple interactions. This calls for a transdisciplinary and holistic approach and effective collaboration with various stakeholders.

scholarly journals Indoor Environmental Quality in Latin American Buildings: A Systematic Literature Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Valderrama-Ulloa ◽  
Lorena Silva-Castillo ◽  
Catalina Sandoval-Grandi ◽  
Carlos Robles-Calderon ◽  
Fabien Rouault
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality

The amount of time people spend inside buildings is significant. Indoor environment quality deficiencies in some of these buildings may affect the health of its users. Therefore, a systematic literature review has been conducted to assess the quality of indoor environments in existing buildings in Latin America. The objectives of this review are (1) identifying countries and building types whose indoor environment quality has been analyzed the most, (2) identifying most used evaluation strategies, (3) identifying comfort types and most evaluated variables, and (4) determining whether or not Latin American buildings are comfortable and what local factors contribute to that effect. From the 100 selected papers for this analysis, it was noted that Brazil and Argentina led the studies on residences and schools. It was also noted that hygrothermal comfort was the most analyzed comfort type, with temperature and humidity leading the number of studies. Finally, this review shows a lack of studies including buildings whose users are sensitive to indoor environmental quality, such as nurseries, senior homes, or health facilities. Additionally, there is a sustained discrepancy between objective measuring methods and user perception. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of 88 buildings shows that in Latin America, 67.5% of buildings are uncomfortable; thus, it is necessary to improve the designs and regulatory standards, to educate users, and to improve building monitoring management at the operational stage.

scholarly journals Urban Health: Assessment of Indoor Environment Spillovers on Health in a Distressed Urban Area of Rome

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5760
Author(s):  
Alessandra Battisti ◽  
Livia Calcagni ◽  
Alberto Calenzo ◽  
Aurora Angelozzi ◽  
Miriam Errigo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Housing Conditions ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Research Action ◽  
The University ◽  
Architectural Barriers

It is notable that indoor environment quality plays a crucial role in guaranteeing health, especially if we consider that people spend more than 90% of their time indoors, a percentage that increases for people on low income. This role assumes even further significance when dealing with distressed urban areas, vulnerable areas within cities that suffer from multiple deprivations. The community-based interdisciplinary research-action group of the University La Sapienza focused on a complex in the outskirts of Rome. The aim was to assess the correlations between architectural aspects of the indoor environment, socio-economic conditions, such as lifestyles and housing conditions, and eventually health outcomes. The intent of providing a comparative methodology in a context where official data is hard to find, led to the integration of social, health, and housing questionnaires with various environmental software simulations. What emerged is that underprivileged housing conditions, characterized by mold, humidity, unhealthiness, thermohygrometric discomfort, architectural barriers, and overcrowding, are often associated with recurrent pathologies linked to arthritis, respiratory diseases, and domestic accidents.

Exploration of Long-Term Care Institution Managers’ Perceptions of Institutional Indoor Environment Quality and Ease of Administration

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen Ping Hsieh ◽  
Chia Ching Lin ◽  
Ying Chia Huang
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Care Facility ◽  
Indoor Environments ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Longterm Care ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
High Level ◽  
Level Of Importance

This study investigated the level of management’s perception of the importance of indoor environment indicators at longterm care facilities as well as the differences between the level of perceived importance and the level of implementation. This study also analyzed the indicators for improving indoor environments. This study selected Taiwanese longterm care facility managers as its subjects to whom questionnaires were distributed by mail. Descriptive statistics, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and an importanceperformance analysis were used to conduct analyses on the data retrieved from the questionnaires. The results indicate that, of the indoor environment indicators of four facility spaces, bedrooms had the highest perceived level of importance. The lounge was the easiest space in which to implement the indicators. Differences were found between the perceived level of importance and the level of implementation for six of the indoor environment indicators of the four facility spaces. In these four spaces, the ventilation indicator was the most important, whereas implementing the temperature and humidity indicators was the most difficult. The highest priority for indicator improvement was given to the temperature in the bedrooms and bathrooms, whereas control over temperature, humidity, and sound had a low priority. The indicators seen as requiring continuous maintenance were lighting and ventilation. Facility managers had a high level of awareness and competence in implementing the ventilation indicator. However, although they were aware of the importance of the temperature, humidity, and sound indicators, their implementation was difficult, suggesting that they needed to be improved.

A Report on The Acoustic Conditions of IEQ Laboratory Using ISO 3382-3

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26
Author(s):  
Jason Obadiah
Keyword(s):  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
The Future ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

Recently, many facilities have completed new laboratories that may be used to assess various measures of Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) in office spaces. Also recently, a new standard, ISO 3382-3, was released for assessing the effects of speech on IEQ in open plan offices. The aim of this report is to assess one room of the IEQ lab using the ISO 3382-3 standard. It is expected that the data gained will be of help to researchers using the facility in the future. Keywords: ISO 3382-3, Indoor Environment Quality, Acoustics

Unemployment and Health: An Analysis of “Canada Health Survey” Data

1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 609-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl D'Arcy ◽  
C. M. Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Physician Visits ◽  
Health Differences ◽  
The Unemployed

This paper provides a cross-sectional analysis of the physical and emotional well-being of employed and unemployed workers. The data used consists of a sub-sample ( N = 14,313) drawn from the Canada Health Survey's national probability sample ( N = 31,688). The analysis indicates substantial health differences between employed and unemployed individuals. The unemployed showed significantly higher levels of distress, greater short-term and long-term disability, reported a large number of health problems, had been patients more often, and used proportionately more health services. Consistent with these measures, derived from self-reported data, physician-diagnosed measures also indicate a greater vulnerability of unemployed individuals to serious physical ailments such as heart trouble, pain in heart and chest, high blood pressure, spells of faint-dizziness, bone-joint problems and hypertension. While these health differences between the employed and unemployed persisted across socio-economic and demographic conditions, further analysis indicated strong interaction effects of SES and demographic variables on the association of employment status with physical and emotional health. Females and older unemployed individuals reported more health problems and physician visits whereas the younger unemployed (under 40) reported more psychological distress. The blue-collar unemployed were found to be considerably more vulnerable to physical illness whereas the unemployed with professional background reported more psychological distress. The low-income unemployed who were also the principal family earners, were the most psychologically distressed. A regional look at the data showed that the low-income unemployed suffered the most in terms of depressed mood in each region of the country. It is apparent that unemployment and its health impact reflect the wider class-based inequalities of advanced industrial societies. The need for social policies that effectively reduce unemployment and the detrimental impact of unemployment is clear.

scholarly journals Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Indoor Dust Collected during the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Saudi Arabia: Status, Sources and Human Health Risks

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 2743
Author(s):  
Sultan Hassan Alamri ◽  
Nadeem Ali ◽  
Hussain Mohammed Salem Ali Albar ◽  
Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid ◽  
Nisreen Rajeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Weight ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Aromatic Hydrocarbons ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Indoor Dust ◽  
Environment Quality ◽  
Indoor Environment Quality ◽  
Polycyclic Aromatic

To control the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Saudi Arabia’s government imposed a strict lockdown during March–July 2020. As a result, the public was confined to indoors, and most of their daily activities were happening in their indoor places, which might have resulted in lower indoor environment quality. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in household dust (n = 40) collected from different residential districts of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the lockdown period. PAHs’ levels were two folds higher than the previously reported PAHs in indoor dust from this region. We detected low molecular weight (LMW) with two to four aromatic ring PAHs in all the samples with a significant contribution from Phenanthrene (Phe), present at an average concentration of 1590 ng/g of dust. Although high molecular weight (HMW) (5–6 aromatic ring) PAHs were detected at lower concentrations than LMW PAHs, however, they contributed >90% in the carcinogenic index of PAHs. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of specific PAHs was above the reference dose (RfD) for young children in high-end exposure and the calculated Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) was >1.00 × 10−4 for both Saudi adults and young children. The study highlighted that indoor pollution has increased significantly during lockdown due to the increased indoor activities and inversely affect human health. This study also warrants to conduct more studies involving different chemicals to understand the indoor environment quality during strict lockdown conditions.

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