This paper selectively reviews scientific research on the positive effects on building occupant’s health, well-being and productivity that result from the presence of indoor plants in the workplace. Case studies show improvement in indoor air quality, (with a reduction in the levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), improved productivity by up to 12%, and reduced absenteeism and staff turno...

People assess the quality of the air indoors primarily on the basis of its odors and on their perception of associated health risk. The major current contributors to indoor odorants are human occupant odors (body odor), environmental tobacco smoke, volatile building materials, bio-odorants (particularly mold and animal-derived materials), air fresheners, deodorants, and perfumes. These are most...

The East Mediterranean region suffers from high levels of air pollution which has a negative impact on pregnancy outcomes. This work systematically reviews the epidemiological evidence on maternal exposure to air pollution and adverse pregnancy outcomes in the region. Relevant papers and reports published between 2000 and 2014 were searched. Combinations of search terms including countries, exp...

BACKGROUND Indoor air pollution (IAP) constitutes a major global public health problem requiring increasing efforts in research and policymaking that may have special significance for elderly that are likely to spend most of their day indoors and appear to be particularly susceptible to adverse effects of chemical pollutants and bio-contaminants. Yet, evidence existing on the effects of IAP in ...

This brief paper provides background reading for the Population-Environment Research Network’s online seminar on ‘Air Pollution and Health Linkages,’ scheduled for December 1-15, 2003. The purpose of this ‘cyberseminar’ is to foster a discussion that will lead to identification of key issues, knowledge gaps, and methodological shortcomings in understanding health impacts of air pollution, both ...

Air pollution has been recognized as a human carcinogen. Children living in urban areas are a high-risk group, because genetic damage occurring early in life is considered able to increase the risk of carcinogenesis in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate micronuclei (MN) frequency, as a biomarker of DNA damage, in exfoliated buccal cells of pre-school children living in a town with high ...

Air pollution concentrations in urban areas vary in both time and space (Munn, 1981). Time variations are strongly influenced by changes in human activities. Several activities occur repeatedly at regular intervals thus producing cycles in air pollution changes, like daily variations in CO concentration due to the change in traffic density or seasonal variations in air pollution (e.g., from hea...

Four different methods have been applied to estimate the burden of disease due to indoor air pollution from household solid fuel use in developing countries (LDCs). The largest number of estimates involves applying exposure-response information from urban ambient air pollution studies to estimate indoor exposure concentrations of particulate air pollution. Another approach is to construct child...

The authors evaluated indoor air pollution from coal combustion (IAPCC) as a potential risk factor for neural tube defects (NTDs) in a rural population in Shanxi Province, China. The studied rural population has both high IAPCC exposure and a high prevalence of NTDs. A population-based case-control study was used to identify 610 NTD cases and 837 normal controls between November 2002 and Decemb...

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a major cause of illness among children throughout the world, with an estimated 4.1 million children under age 5 in developing countries dying from ARI annually. ARI is the leading cause of childhood death in India. Data collected in India's 1992-93 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) indicate that 1 in every 15 children sampled under age 3 had experien...