Sick building syndrome in a university hospital in Thailand

This study investigated prevalence of sick building syndrome (SBS) and the relationship between occupant characteristics, work conditions, psychosocial factors, personality types, indoor air quality (IAQ), and SBS symptoms among back office workers at a Thai university hospital. It also explored independent variables from August to October 2020. Back office workers from 17 different departments were randomly selected as 165 samples. Participants completed questionnaires on work sensation and sick building syndrome symptom as well as personality type, providing data on occupant characteristics, work conditions, and psychosocial factors. Ten parameters of IAQ samples were collected by air sampler. The result was 80% of participants that showed the prevalence of SBS symptoms. The highest prevalence (68.5%) was of less specific symptoms, while 41.8% of samples suffered from skin symptoms, with 40.6% suffering from eye and nose symptoms. The lowest prevalence (26.7%) was of throat symptoms. Three factors statistically associated with SBS were neuroticism (AOR=4.40, 95% CI=1.65-11.74), visual display terminal (AOR=3.42, 95% CI=1.10-10.61) and allergy history (AOR=2.83, 95% CI=1.05-7.59). Temperature, relative humidity, formaldehyde, bacteria, and carbon dioxide (CO2) did not meet Singapore Standard. SS 554: 2009 in some back office rooms. Therefore, administrators may resolve the SBS problem through direct risk factors by an organizational action plan to achieve good indoor air quality and benefit from increased productivity.