Emission of volatile organic compounds from medical equipment inside neonatal incubators

Objective: To determine emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from plastic medical equipment within an incubator. Study Design: Air samples from incubators before and after adding medical equipment were analyzed using EPA TO-15 methodology. Headspace analysis was used to identify VOC emissions from each medical equipment item. Air changes per hour (ACH) of each incubator were determined and used to calculate the emission rate of identified VOCs. Results: Cyclohexanone was identified in all incubator air samples. At 28 °C, the mean concentration before and after adding medical equipment items was 2.1±0.6 and 57.2±14.9 μg m −3 ,respectively ( P