BACKGROUND The complex hospital environment requires special attention to ensure healthful indoor air quality (IAQ) to protect patients and healthcare workers against hospital-acquired (nosocomial) infections and occupational diseases. The aim here is to recommend effective guidelines for the control and management of hospital IAQ. MATERIAL/METHODS The authors have done an extensive literatur...

According to the U.S. EPA Americans spend 90 percent of their time indoors where indoor air is two to five times more polluted than outdoor air. Toxins in the built environment have been found to cause adverse physical and mental health effects on occupants and are estimated to cost the U.S. 125 billion dollar annually in lost productivity. To address this challenge a novel botanical air filter...

Carpeted bedrooms of 36 asthmatic children were monitored to examine the mass concentration of indoor aerosol particulate matter (PM), from non-smoking households, and the effect high efficiency particle arresting (HEPA) air filtration had on PM concentration. Concurrent indoor and outdoor monitoring was also undertaken. Mass concentration was determined gravimetrically using time weighted conc...

Recently indoor air quality (IAQ) became an important issue and as a result researchers have developed a large number of different air quality indicators. This study focuses on air exchange efficiency (εa) and contaminant removal effectiveness (ε) as suitable indicators for use in design and on-site measurements. These two IAQ indicators were numerically studied and compared for five typical in...

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in the use of combustion appliances is important for adequate evaluation of air pollution health risks. Since people spend most of their time inside buildings, especially the elderly and children, their exposure to indoor air contaminants can increase health problems in the community. Combustion materials emitted from combustion space heating appliances in housing durin...

This review underlines the importance of indoor contamination as a pathway of human exposure to hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs). There is ample evidence of substantial contamination of indoor dust with these chemicals and that their concentrations in indoor air exceed substantially those outdoors. Studies examining the...

We reviewed the main epidemiological studies that evaluate the respiratory effects of indoor air pollutants quantitatively in industrialised countries. Consistent results support short-term (aggravation) and, although more rarely, long-term (prevalence augmentation) effects on asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in indoor settings with poor air quality. E...

We reviewed the literature on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), ventilation, and building-related health problems in schools and identified commonly reported building-related health symptoms involving schools until 1999. We collected existing data on ventilation rates, carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and symptom-relevant indoor air contaminants, and evaluated information on causal relationships bet...

BACKGROUND The elements that contribute to a healthy building are multifactorial and can be discussed from different perspectives. OBJECTIVES WE PRESENT THREE VIEWPOINTS OF DESIGNING A HEALTHY BUILDING: the importance of sustainable development, the role of occupants for ensuring indoor air quality, and ongoing developments related to indoor finishes with low chemical emissions and good funga...