Air Quality and sick building syndrome symptoms in a public building in Athens, GreeceIoannis Nezis1, George Biskos2,3, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis4, Prodromos Fetfatzis4, Olga Popovicheva5, Nikolay Sitnikov6, Olga-Ioanna Kalantzi1*1 Department of Environment, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, 81100, Greece2 Climate and Atmosphere Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus 3 Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands 4 Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, N.C.S.R. “Demokritos”, 15310 Ag. Paraskevi, Greece5 Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia6 Central Aerological Observatory, Moscow region, 141700, RussiaBackground: The objective of this study was to investigate the concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) and Black Carbon (BC) and the prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms of civil servants working in a public building in the center of Athens, Greece.Methods: Continuous air measurements were carried out from March until May 2016 (24 hours, 7 days per week) in four different types of rooms, including an office, a printer room and two filing rooms, representing both high and low exposure environments. Data on SBS symptoms was collected from 73 employees.Results: Indoor PM2.5 and BC concentrations in the office ranged from 5.9 to 14.3 μg/m3 and 1.1 to 1.9 μg/m3, respectively. During working hours the indoor PM2.5 and BC to outdoor ratio (I/O) was higher than 1. The most commonly reported SBS symptoms were irritation of the eyes, a stuffy or runny nose, headache and drowsiness. These symptoms occurred “often” or “always” and subsequently disappeared after leaving the building. Female employees were more likely to report SBS symptoms than male employees (“Unusual tiredness or fatigue” OR = 5.4; “feeling depressed” OR = 4.1).Conclusions: PM2.5 and BC concentrations varied substantially between the different rooms depending on the ventilation, construction characteristics and indoor activities.