THE SICK BUILDING SYNDROME IN THE OFFICE ENVIRONMENT - THE DANISH TOWN HALL STUDY

Measurements of the indoor climate were performed in 14 town halls in Greater Copenhagen, Denmark, together with a questionnaire study and a clinical study of 4369 employees in the town halls and 14 affiliated buildings. The return rate for the questionnaire study was 80% and the participation rate for the clinical study 77%. The many indoor climate factors determined resulted in values mainly at the levels normally considered acceptable or in values in accordance with levels previously reported. The prevalence of work-related mucosal irritation and of work-related general symptoms in the employees differed highly between the individual town halls. The lowest prevalences of symptoms were found for the oldest town halls, whereas there were no statistically significant difference between naturally and mechanically ventilated buildings. The preliminary analyses showed that sex, job category, photoprinting, working with video display terminals, and handling carbonless paper correlated significantly with the presence of work-related mucosal irritation and general symptoms.