Quantitative and semiquantitative estimates of mold exposure in infancy and childhood respiratory health (original) (raw)
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Journal of School Health, 2007
Dampness and mold problems are frequently encountered in schools. Approximately one third of US public schools require extensive repairs or need at least 1 building replaced. This study illustrates how national data can be used to identify building-related health risks in school employees and students. School employees (n = 309) in 2 elementary schools (schools A and B) with dampness and mold problems completed standardized questionnaires. Responses were compared with participant responses from the 3rd National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and were indirectly standardized for gender, age, smoking status, and (for school B) race. Uncontrolled comparisons were made to responses from a study of office workers, as well as between responses from school employees in different sections of the school buildings designated by decade of construction. Employees from both schools had excess work-related throat and lower respiratory symptoms, as well as eye, nasal, sinus, and wheezing symptoms. School B employees also had excess physician-diagnosed asthma and work-related fatigue, headache, and skin irritation. Employees in sections of the school buildings that were categorized as having greater dampness and mold contamination had more frequent upper and lower respiratory symptoms than employees working in other building sections. This noncostly type of analysis of indoor air quality complaints can be used to motivate and prioritize building remediation in public schools where funds for building remediation are usually limited.
The open respiratory medicine journal, 2013
Exposures to water-damaged homes/buildings has been linked to deficits in respiratory health. However, accurately quantifying this linkage has been difficult because of the methods used to assess water damage and respiratory health. The goal of this analysis was to determine the correlation between the water-damage, as defined by the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) value in an asthmatic child's home, and the child's pulmonary function measured by spirometry, "forced expiratory volume in one second, percent predicted" or FEV1%. This analysis utilized data obtained from the "Heads-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana" (HEAL) study. The children (n= 109), 6 to 12 years of age, who had completed at least one spirometry evaluation and a dust sample collected for ERMI analysis from the home at approximately the same time as the spirometry testing, were included in the analysis. Statistical evaluation of the correlation between ERMI values and FEV...
Public health and economic impact of dampness and mold
Indoor Air, 2007
The public health risk and economic impact of dampness and mold exposures was assessed using current asthma as a health endpoint. Individual risk of current asthma from exposure to dampness and mold in homes from W.J. Fisk, Q. Lei-Gomez & M.J. Mendell [(2007) Indoor Air, [corrected] 17, 284-296], and [corrected] asthma risks calculated from additional studies that reported the prevalence of dampness and mold in homes were used to estimate the proportion of US current asthma cases that are attributable to dampness and mold exposure at 21% (95% confidence internal 12-29%). An examination of the literature covering dampness and mold in schools, offices, and institutional buildings, which is summarized in the Appendix, suggests that risks from exposure in these buildings are similar to risks from exposures in homes. Of the 21.8 million people reported to have asthma in the USA, approximately 4.6 (2.7-6.3) million cases are estimated to be attributable to dampness and mold exposure in the home. Estimates of the national cost of asthma from two prior studies were updated to 2004 and used to estimate the economic impact of dampness and mold exposures. By applying the attributable fraction to the updated national annual cost of asthma, the national annual cost of asthma that is attributable to dampness and mold exposure in the home is estimated to be 3.5billion(3.5 billion (3.5billion(2.1-4.8 billion). Analysis indicates that exposure to dampness and mold in buildings poses significant public health and economic risks in the USA. These findings are compatible with public policies and programs that help control moisture and mold in buildings. There is a need to control moisture in both new and existing construction because of the significant health consequences that can result from dampness and mold. This paper demonstrates that dampness and mold in buildings is a significant public health problem with substantial economic impact.