%0 Journal Article
%K sick building syndrome
%K carbon dioxide
%K office workers
%K Dose-response
%K multivariate logistic regression
%K vntilation
%A Michael G Apte
%A William J Fisk
%A Joan M Daisey
%B Indoor Air
%D 2000
%G eng
%N 4
%P 246-257
%R 10.1034/j.1600-0668.2000.010004246.x
%T Associations between Indoor CO<sub>2</sub> Concentrations and Sick Building  Syndrome Symptoms in US Office Buildings: An Analysis of the 1994-1996 BASE Study Data
%V 10
%2 LBNL-44385
%8 07/2000
%X <p>Higher indoor concentrations of air pollutants due, in part, to lower ventilation rates are a potential cause of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms in office workers. The indoor carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) concentration is an approximate surrogate for indoor concentrations of other occupant-generated pollutants and for ventilation rate per occupant. Using multivariate logistic regression (MLR) analyses, we evaluated the relationship between indoor CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations and SBS symptoms in occupants from a probability sample of 41 U.S. office buildings. Two CO<sub>2</sub> metrics were constructed: average workday indoor minus average outdoor CO<sub>2</sub> (dCO<sub>2</sub>, range 6-418 ppm), and maximum indoor one-hour moving average CO<sub>2</sub> minus outdoor CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations (dCO<sub>2</sub>MAX). MLR analyses quantified dCO<sub>2</sub>/SBS symptom associations, adjusting for personal and environmental factors. A dose-response relationship (p&lt;0.05) with odds ratios per 100 ppm dCO<sub>2</sub> ranging from 1.2 to 1.5 for sore throat, nose/sinus, tight chest, and wheezing was observed. The dCO<sub>2</sub>MAX/SBS regression results were similar. Implications: large increases in ventilation rate or improvements in ventilation effectiveness and/or indoor pollutant source control would be expected to decrease the prevalence of selected symptoms by up to 70-85%.</p>