Assessment of sick building syndrome among office workers in Shahid Sadoughi University of medical sciences in 2008

Background and aims Building associated illnesses are a group of illnesses caused by physical or psychological conditions of workplace. One of theses illnesses is sick building syndrome (SBS) which consists of a group of symptoms, including mucosal irritation, headache, fatigue, skin dryness and itching, and nausea that are temporally related to presence in a particular building. This study was designed to assess SBS and factors affecting it in central building of Shahid Sadoughi University of medical sciences. Methods This is a cross-sectional study on workers of central building of Shahid Sadoughi University of medical sciences. The prevalence of SBS was determined using self-administered indoor air quality (IAQ) questionnaire for office workers. All workers who worked at least one year in this building and had no other medical illnesses with similar symptoms to SBS, entered the study and the questionnaire was filled out for them. Data was analyzed using chi square test. ResultsPrevalence of SBS among the workers of central building was 35.7% (34.8% in male and 36.9% in female workers). There was no significant association between prevalence of SBS and age, gender, duration of employment and level of education. The most frequent complaints mentioned by participants were fatigue and headache, and the most frequent causes were noise, inadequate physical space and crowded work environment. Conclusion This survey showed a relatively high prevalence of SBS among office workers in this organization. So considering the effects of SBS on workers' function and productivity, it is recommended to reduce its causes, especially noise and inadequate space.