Abstract
Sick House Syndrome (SHS) is characterized by subjective responses to indoor air contamination. Frequent symptoms include eye, skin, and nose irritation, headache, and fatigue. Although some environmental factors have been put forth as being involved in the occurrence of the symptoms, none has been proved. To clarify the relationship between subjective symptoms of SHS, indoor air pollutants, and the living environment, we took environmental measurements of organic compounds, fungal levels,and house dust mite allergens in ordinary houses in Okayama, Japan and administered questionnaires to their inhabitants. We defined persons complaining of one or more of six subjective symptoms related to the dwelling environment as SHS. In this study, 42 people (17.0%) had SHS. Factors significantly related to SHS were: a moldy odor, perception of an odor in the dwelling, a feeling that the air is bad in the dwelling, perception of an odor from the furniture, sleeplessness, and a history of allergic diseases. People with SHS lived in the dwellings with higher concentrations of some aldehydes and Fusarium. In multiple logistic regression analysis, significant causative factors of SHS were: a moldy odor, a feeling that the air is bad in the dwelling, and sleeplessness. Although organic compounds and house dust mites showed no relationship to SHS, higher fungal levels were found in the dwellings where people had SHS. These results suggest that dampness in dwellings is an important factor in SHS.
