Frequency of Sick Building Syndrome Symptoms and Related Factors among Administrative Employees

Many employees spend half of their useful time in the office buildings. Moreover, large amount of pollution in working environment is due to the usage of machines such as computer, printer and etc. Accordingly, investigation of their health status is important. The objective of this study was to assess the frequency of sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and related factors among administrative employees in an organizational building in Mashhad. In a cross-sectional study on 107 administrative personnel of the organizational building in Mashhad in 2009, their complaints were collected through questionnaires. The frequency of SBS and related environmental and constructional factors were evaluated. In total, 4 (3.7%) women and 103 men (96.3%), with the mean employment duration of 16.58±9.80 years in the buildings, were studied. Twenty six cases (24.3%) had the SBS symptoms; there was no significant difference between the woman and men in the frequency of these symptoms (P=0.329). Most people complaining of SBS symptoms were in the age group 51-60 years (6 persons, 26.1%). The most common group of symptoms was the nervous system symptoms 40 (37.4%), followed by mucosal irritant 26 (24.3%), respiratory symptoms 9 (8.4%), symptoms of skins 9 (8.4%) and sensory symptoms 4 (3.7%). The frequency of SBS symptoms was similar to that of the previous studies indicating the favorable results.