Abstract
<i>Background: </i>The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated an already existing trend of individuals increasingly working remotely. With the growing popularity of remote working, specifically in a home office, there is a critical need to better understand and characterize the potential environmental differences between these two spaces. Indoor air pollution can have adverse health effects and impair cognitive functioning. <i>Methods:</i> This small pilot cohort study (N=22) recruited home and office workers to better understand the indoor air quality between these spaces. Air contaminants collected and assessed included PM<sub>10</sub> and PM<sub>2.5</sub>, carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). <i>Results:</i> Findings showed a strong statistically significant increase in all measured variables within homes in comparison to traditional offices (p<0.001). Within in individuals’ homes three was a marked increase in variability of environmental conditions in comparison to traditionally offices. These results indicate that those who work from home are at increased risk due to longer exposures to higher levels of certain contaminants, the importance to better develop interventions to mitigate this reality is underscored by the fact that many workers will be moving to home-based offices in the coming years. <i>Conclusion</i>: Traditionally, working adults would split their time between a home and office microenvironment. However, the transition of the workforce from a commercial office building to a home-based office results in more time in the residential microenvironment. This study suggests that home workers may be asked to shoulder an undue burden of environmental conditions than traditional office workers.
Highlights
Within the United States, adults spend roughly 90 percent of their day indoors, an amount that has been on the rise for several generations [1, 2]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers are increasing the types of work that can be done from home, and preliminary evidence suggests that both workers and employers enjoy the flexibility of working remotely and many positions will
To reach the target sample size for the home worker cohort, recruitment emails were sent to individuals who were referred by other participants and alumni of the Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC)
Summary
Within the United States, adults spend roughly 90 percent of their day indoors, an amount that has been on the rise for several generations [1, 2] This reality places populations in continuous exposure to certain complex mixtures of chemicals and contaminants associated with indoor air quality. Within in individuals’ homes three was a marked increase in variability of environmental conditions in comparison to traditionally offices These results indicate that those who work from home are at increased risk due to longer exposures to higher levels of certain contaminants, the importance to better develop interventions to mitigate this reality is underscored by the fact that many workers will be moving to home-based offices in the coming years. This study suggests that home workers may be asked to shoulder an undue burden of environmental conditions than traditional office workers
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