Symptoms and Perceived Indoor Air Quality among Occupants of Houses and Apartments with Different Ventilation Systems

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Abstract
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the occurrence of symptoms and the perception of poor indoor air quality among the occupants of houses and apartments with different ventilation systems. The study population consisted of the 473 occupants of 242 dwellings in the Helsinki metropolitan area who responded to a self-administered questionnaire (response rate 93.1%) after a two-week period of indoor air quality measurements. The symptoms of interest were those often related to poor indoor air quality including dryness or itching of the skin; dryness, irritation or itching of the eyes; nasal congestion (“blocked nose”) nasal dry-ness; nasal discharge (“runny nose”); sneezing; cough; breathlessness; headache or migraine; and lethargy, weakness or nausea. Perception of coldness; warm-ness; draught; dryness; stuffiness; and sufficiency of air exchange was also requested. The age-standardized period prevalences of the symptoms and complaints were systematically more common among the occupants of the apartments than those of the houses. The occupants of the houses with natural ventilation seemed to have more symptoms and complaints than those with balanced ventilation. However, in the apartments with balanced ventilation the occupants reported, in general, more symptoms and complaints than those with natural ventilation.