Prevalences of Sick Building Syndrome Symptoms in Respiratory Therapists and Hospital Office Workers in a Medical Center

Abstract

Previous studies mainly evaluated of the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms, including skin and mucosal symptoms, respiratory system symptoms, and central nervous system symptoms, in office workers. This study evaluates the prevalence and possible risk factors for SBS symptoms in respiratory therapists and hospital office workers at a medical center in northern Taiwan. Questionnaires were distributed to recruited participants to collect such data as personal and work characteristics, perception of environmental quality, and prevalence of SBS symptoms during the last three months. The prevalences of SBS symptoms for respiratory therapists and hospital office workers were 88.8% and 66.7%, respectively. The most common SBS symptoms were central nervous system symptoms in the respiratory therapists and respiratory system symptoms in hospital office workers, respectively. The prevalence of SBS symptoms was strongly associated with gender in the respiratory therapists [odds ratio (OR)=7.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) of OR=1.93-29.15].