Table Of ContentCurrent Topics in
Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
Reiko Kishi
Dan Norbäck
Atsuko Araki Editors
Indoor Environmental
Quality and Health
Risk toward Healthier
Environment for All
Current Topics in Environmental Health
and Preventive Medicine
Series Editor
Takemi Otsuki
Kawasaki Medical School
Kurashiki
Okayama, Japan
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Reiko Kishi • Dan Norbäck • Atsuko Araki
Editors
Indoor Environmental
Quality and Health Risk
toward Healthier
Environment for All
Editors
Reiko Kishi Dan Norbäck
Hokkaido University Uppsala University
Center for Environmental and Health Department of Medical Sciences
Sciences Uppsala
Sapporo Sweden
Hokkaido
Japan
Atsuko Araki
Hokkaido University
Center for Environmental and Health
Sciences
Sapporo
Hokkaido
Japan
ISSN 2364-8333 ISSN 2364-8341 (electronic)
Current Topics in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine
ISBN 978-981-32-9181-2 ISBN 978-981-32-9182-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9182-9
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Preface
In modern days, especially in urban areas, people spend up to 90% of their time
indoors. Thus, indoor air quality becomes a key issue in order to achieve and main-
tain a good health. Moreover, indoor air pollutants and “problem” building environ-
ment can be related to discomfort and annoyance among occupants. This book is
designed to help those interested in knowing how the indoor environment can influ-
ence the health of the inhabitants in different indoor environments.
Indoor Environmental Quality and Health Risk Toward Healthier Environment
for All is structured as a guide and a reference to prevent indoor environmental
problems, which can cause impaired health. Part I (Chapter 1) provides an overall
introduction to the importance of indoor environmental qualities referring to the
historical background. The World Health Organization (WHO) has clarified that a
good indoor environment is an important factor for health. The authors discuss how
good indoor environment can be achieved. The Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) as a global issue are described. Part II summarizes the existing knowledge
from epidemiological studies on associations between indoor air quality and health
in various settings. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on sick building syndrome (SBS) in
home environmental settings and symptoms of building-related illness (BRI) such
as asthma, rhinitis, and dermatitis. Although people spend about one-third of their
time at home, other indoor environments are also important. In Chap. 4, issues
related to the indoor environment in offices are discussed. In this chapter, the authors
cover topics from classical issues, such as thermal conditions and ventilation, as
well as noise, lighting, and the view through windows, to recent topics on new office
concepts and layout. Schools and day care centers are focused upon in Chap. 5. This
chapter describes the health concern in relation to dampness and microbial expo-
sure, furry pet allergens, chemical emissions, and ventilation flow in schools and
day care centers. In the modern society, people spend more time in vehicles for
commuting and other transportation needs. The indoor environment in cars, tram,
buses, subways, aircraft, and boats is described in Chap. 6.
In Part III, the authors focus on specific risk factors in the indoor environment
and their impact on health. Major chemical indoor pollutants, such as aldehydes and
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are discussed in Chap. 7. Chapter 8 focuses on
v
vi Preface
semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), such as phthalates and flame retardants,
which are considered as emerging contaminants in many indoor environments.
Chapter 9 focuses on microbial agents including mold, bacteria, and microbial com-
pounds, including endotoxin, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) of microbial
origin, microbial VOCs (MVOCs). Dampness is common in indoor environments
and is related to indoor growth of mold and bacteria as well as chemical degradation
of building materials. Dampness is a consistent risk factor for SBS and BRI, and the
health consequences of dampness are described in Chap. 10. Particulate matter
(PM) and inorganic gaseous chemicals such as nitrogen dioxide (NO ) and sulfur
2
dioxide (SO) are emitted from industrial activities, traffic exhaust, gas cooking,
2
biomass burning, and other indoor and outdoor sources. In Chap. 11, the author
reviews the literature on PM, NO and SO indoors, and their relation to health. In
2 2
contrast to developed countries, people in many developing countries still rely on
solid fuel for cooking, causing heavy indoor exposure to PM. Household air pollu-
tion (HAP) from the combustion of fuels is known to have a major impact on health,
and this issue is discussed in Chap. 12. Chapter 13 covers the issue of indoor ther-
mal environment. Both cold and heat are related to increased mortality in the popu-
lation, and the authors review current evidence to discuss the key factors associated
with control of indoor thermal environment.
Chapters in Part IV focus on how to improve the indoor environment and indoor
air quality. Part IV begins with Chap. 14. In this chapter, the relationship between
indoor air quality, thermal environment, and the occupants health together with the
countermeasures with building envelope and equipment to prevent the health prob-
lems as an architectural view are described. Personal factors and organizational
factors can influence the SBS. Personality traits and psychosocial risk factors and
recommendations linked to these aspects are discussed in Chap. 15. Part IV of the
book ends with Chap. 16, which summarizes guidelines and regulations for indoor
environmental quality. Moreover, the author suggests a novel approach to health
risk assessment using environmental biomarkers. Finally, Part V, the last chapter of
the book (Chap. 17) focuses on future directions of research on IAQ and health.
Important future issues are the need of intervention studies, the challenge of new
building materials, new building technologies, and the consequences of global
warming and increased energy saving in buildings for the indoor environment.
The book presents a unique overview of indoor environment and indoor air qual-
ity. The reader will develop an understanding of the latest concepts and findings
regarding the impact of indoor environment and indoor air pollution on human
health. Although the book focuses more on epidemiology than engineering, it also
includes practical aspects on how to improve the indoor environment. It is our desire
that the reader will gain new knowledge as well as enjoy reading this book.
Sapporo, Japan Reiko Kishi
Uppsala, Sweden Dan Norbäck
Sapporo, Japan Atsuko Araki
Contents
Part I Introduction
1 Importance of Indoor Environmental Quality on Human Health
toward Achievement of the SDGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Reiko Kishi and Atsuko Araki
Part II E pidemiological Studies on Indoor Air Quality and Health
2 Sick Building/House Syndrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Yasuaki Saijo
3 Associations with Home Environment for Asthma,
Rhinitis and Dermatitis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Juan Wang
4 Offices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Jan Vilhelm Bakke and Knut Inge Fostervold
5 The Indoor Environment in Schools, Kindergartens
and Day Care Centres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Motoko Takaoka and Dan Norbäck
6 In-Vehicle Exposures at Transportation and the Health Concerns . . 113
Xi Fu
Part III Factors Determining Indoor Air Qualities and Their Health
Impacts
7 Aldehydes, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Health. . . . . . 129
Atsuko Araki, Rahel Mesfin Ketema, Yu Ait Bamai, and Reiko Kishi
8 Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs): Phthalates and
Phosphorous Frame Retardants and Health Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Yu Ait Bamai
vii
viii Contents
9 Microbial Agents in the Indoor Environment:
Associations with Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Dan Norbäck and Gui-Hong Cai
10 Dampness, Indoor Mould and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Dan Norbäck
11 Particles Matter, Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Xin Zhang
12 Combustion and Cookstoves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Sumal Nandasena, A. R. Wickremasinghe, and Nalini Sathiakumar
13 Indoor Thermal Environment and Cardiovascular Diseases . . . . . . . 251
Keigo Saeki and Kenji Obayashi
Part IV P rovision for Improving Indoor Environment
Quality and Health
14 Housing Performance and Equipment for Healthy
Indoor Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Hiroshi Yoshino
15 Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), Personality,
Psychosocial Factors and Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Roma Runeson-Broberg
16 Guidelines and Regulations for Indoor Environmental Quality . . . . 303
Kenichi Azuma
Part V C onclusion
17 Future Directions of Research on Indoor Environment,
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Dan Norbäck
Part I
Introduction
