The complex problem of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in schools and its consequence on health are best addressed by a team of specialties that include public health, industrial hygiene and engineering. Children and their parents, teachers, and the clinicians who treat them face rising rates and increasing severity of respiratory disease. Since increased school absences accrue with respiratory problems, quality of life is impacted and the learning process for many asthmatic students is disrupted. The condition of the school building may be a major contributor to this growing health problem. The Institute of Medicine in Clearing the Air: Asthma and Indoor Air Exposures found “sufficient evidence of an association between the worsening of asthmatic symptoms and exposure to.. fungi, molds,” i.e. that there likely is an association between exposure to molds and asthma severity.
Individually each discipline has limitations. However, a combination of epidemiological and medical protocol, exposure assessment and engineering serves to both link IEQ with health consequences and design environmental improvements to reduce exposures. This integrated approach has been useful to 1) guide physicians in treating persons with building-related illnesses, and 2) provide strategic information to the school system to prioritize and design improvements that mitigate IEQ problems in the school. Specific actions range from removing failed flooring systems and ceiling tiles, to expert technical advice. Engineering guidance addresses required ventilation, exposure to hazardous materials, remediation of sources of moisture incursion, and the identification and elimination of sources of microbial amplification (bioaerosols) within the building.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Evaluate the role of epidemiological and industrial hygiene tools in assessing IEQ in schools; 2. Recognize the limitations of quantitative assessment and the applicability of qualitative approaches to assess exposures in school buildings; and 3. Construct an approach integrating epidemiological, industrial hygiene and engineering approaches for IEQ problems in school buildings
Keywords: Indoor Environment, Asthma
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am a research associate in the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Indoor air quality and respiratory disease is a focus of our research program.