modeling of relationship between ventilation rate of buildings and sick building syndrome symptoms

modeling of relationship between ventilation rate of buildings and sick building syndrome symptoms hosseinpoor s , gholamiborujeni f *, mohammadian y received: 22 aug, 2013 accepted: 23 oct , 2013 abstract background & aims: indoor air pollution with microbilal, chemical and physical pollutants lead to sick building syndrome (sbs). suitable ventilation of buildings, is one of the best methods to reduction of sick building syndrome symptoms. in this study, relationship between ventilation rate of buildings and sick building syndrome symptoms were done and modeling of these parameter was carried out. materials & methods:to modeling of relationship between ventilation rate of buildings and sick building syndrome symptoms, in this study, data from published studies were collected and analyzed to develop best-fit equations and curves quantifying the change in sick building syndrome (sbs) symptom prevalence with ventilation rate. for each study, slopes were calculated, representing the fractional change in sbs symptom prevalence per unit change in ventilation rate per person. integration of the slope ventilation rate equations yielded curves of relative sbs symptom prevalence versus ventilation rate. finally optimized model of relationship between ventilation rate of buildings and sick building syndrome symptoms are presented. results:based on above analyses, relative sbs symptom prevalence increases approximately 23% (12% to 32%) as the ventilation rate drops from 10 to 5 l/s-person and relative prevalence decreases aproximately 29% (15% to 42%) as ventilation rate increases from 10 to 25 l/s-person. based on analysis of input data, model of minimum ventilation requierd to prevantion of sick building syndrome symptoms was developed. conclusion:according to the obtained model, minimum ventilation requierd to prevantion of sick building syndrome symptoms in buildings, we can make good decisions about the appropriate design of office buildings and residential air conditioning. keywords: modeling, ventilation rate, sick building syndrome, symptoms, prevalence address: department of environmental health, school of health, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran tel: (+98)0441-2752300 email: [email protected]