From the Duke List Serv Sickbuilding syndrome, isn't

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Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor at the University

of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

March 23, 2006

MedPage Today Action Points

* Advise patients who believe they are suffering from sick

building syndrome that this study suggests the condition is associated

with having a demanding job and lacking supportive colleagues more so

than the physical environment of the workplace.

Review

LONDON, March 23 - Sick building syndrome might be more aptly named

" lousy job syndrome, " a study here suggested.

Syndrome symptoms correlated only weakly with the environmental

properties of office buildings, but the symptoms correlated strongly

with having a demanding job and lacking social support at work, said

Mai Stafford, M.D., of the University College London Medical School

here.

" The results, " Dr. Stafford and colleagues concluded in the April

issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, " imply that if sick

building syndrome is reported in a building, management should

consider causes beyond the physical design and operation of the

workplace and should widen their investigation to include the

organization of work roles and the autonomy of the workforce. "

....

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_http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/4/283_

(http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/4/283)

Building health: an epidemiological study of " sick building syndrome "

in the Whitehall II study

A F Marmot1, J Eley1, M Stafford2, S A Stansfeld3, E Warwick2 and M G Marmot2

1 AMA, Linton House, London, UK

2 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College

London Medical School, London, UK

3 Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and the London, Queen 's School of

Medicine and Dentistry, Medical Sciences Building, London, UK

Correspondence to:

Dr M Stafford

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College

London Medical School, 1-19 Torrington Place, London WC1E 6BT, UK;

m.stafford@...

Objectives: Sick building syndrome (SBS) is described as a group of

symptoms attributed to the physical environment of specific buildings.

Isolating particular environmental features responsible for the

symptoms has proved difficult. This study explores the role and

significance of the physical and psychosocial work environment in

explaining SBS.

Methods: Cross sectional data on the physical environment of a

selection of buildings were added to individual data from the

Whitehall II study—an ongoing health survey of office based civil

servants. A self-report questionnaire was used to capture 10 symptoms

of the SBS and psychosocial work stress. In total, 4052 participants

aged 42–62 years working in 44 buildings were included in this study.

Results: No significant relation was found between most aspects of the

physical work environment and symptom prevalence, adjusted for age,

sex, and employment grade. Positive (non-significant) relations were

found only with airborne bacteria, inhalable dust, dry bulb

temperature, relative humidity, and having some control over the local

physical environment. Greater effects were found with features of the

psychosocial work environment including high job demands and low

support. Only psychosocial work characteristics and control over the

physical environment were independently associated with symptoms in

the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions: The physical environment of office buildings appears to

be less important than features of the psychosocial work environment

in explaining differences in the prevalence of symptoms.

Keywords: sick building syndrome; office environment; psychosocial

work characteristics