A new study by the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and health (NIOSH) will target building-related asthma among teachers and staff members in the nation's public schools.
NIOSH has proposed conducting an initial cross-sectional respiratory health survey in three schools. The study then will continue with two more years of longitudinal follow-up to assess respiratory health and environmental conditions in relation to time and intervention status in the schools. NIOSH will study one school with no history of building leaks and good control of internal moisture sources, one school with previous building leaks and water damage but with subsequent renovation before the start of the study, and one school with current building leaks and dampness problems with renovation scheduled during the study.
The study's goals are to:
• document the time course of changes in respiratory health, sick leave, and quality of life in relation to building remediation for water incursion and dampness problems
• to validate the reporting of building-related lower respiratory symptoms in school staff members with bronchial hyper-responsiveness by the use of serial spirometry to look for building-related patterns of airflow variability.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored the Institute of Medicine to review the published literature relating exposures in damp buildings to health consequences.
The committee findings, summarized in Damp Indoor Spaces and Health (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science 2004), concluded that sufficient evidence exists to associate the presence of mold or other agents in damp buildings to nasal and throat symptoms, coughs, wheezing, asthma symptoms in sensitized asthmatics, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis in susceptible persons. For more information, visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/E7-12504.htm
