Prevalence of Sick Building Syndrome among Employees of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Kashan

The sick-building syndrome (SBS) is an unhealthy condition of occupants of a building, caused by environmental factors such as small space, poor ventilation, and different pollutants in the building. Symptoms of SBS, including nervous, respiratory, dermal, and sensory problems, start by entering a building or slightly after that, and disappear with leaving the building.

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of SBS in the employees of Shahid Beheshti hospital of Kashan.

In a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted, a sample of 279 randomly - selected employees of Kashan’s Shahid Beheshti hospital, were involved. The study was performed on four groups of doctor, nurse, servant and employee. To collect the data, a questionnaire was used. It consisted two parts: demographic data and questions of SBS questionnaire of World Health Organization. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS; and statistical tests such as t-test and Chi-square were performed.

The prevalence rate of SBS in general, women and men was estimated 50.81%, 55.3% and 44.7%, respectively. Symptoms of indisposition (47.32%), skin dryness (41.56%) and headaches (38.92%) had the highest frequency. In all job groups, headache and illness had the highest frequency. Studying SBS symptoms in different job groups showed that skin dryness and dry and sore throat in physicians were significantly less than those in the other groups (p<0.05).

The prevalence of SBS symptoms is relatively high in the studied population. Considering the significant relation between the environmental factors and the prevalence of SBS, improving the workplace conditions is recommended.