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dc.contributor.authorMyatt, Theodore A
dc.contributor.authorStaudenmayer, John
dc.contributor.authorAdams, Kate
dc.contributor.authorWalters, Michael D.
dc.contributor.authorRudnick, Stephen N.
dc.contributor.authorMilton, Donald Kirby
dc.date.accessioned2010-11-10T21:10:23Z
dc.date.issued2002
dc.identifier.citationMyatt, Theodore A, John Staudenmayer, Kate Adams, Michael Walters, Stephen N Rudnick, and Donald K Milton. 2002. A study of indoor carbon dioxide levels and sick leave among office workers. Environmental Health 1:3.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1476-069Xen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4553311
dc.description.abstractBackground: A previous observational study detected a strong positive relationship between sick leave absences and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in office buildings in the Boston area. The authors speculated that the observed association was due to a causal effect associated with low dilution ventilation, perhaps increased airborne transmission of respiratory infections. This study was undertaken to explore this association. Methods: We conducted an intervention study of indoor CO2 levels and sick leave among hourly office workers employed by a large corporation. Outdoor air supply rates were adjusted periodically to increase the range of CO2 concentrations. We recorded indoor CO2 concentrations every 10 minutes and calculated a CO2 concentration differential as a measure of outdoor air supply per person by subtracting the 1–3 a.m. average CO2 concentration from the same-day 9 a.m. – 5 a.m. average concentration. The metric of CO2 differential was used as a surrogate for the concentration of exhaled breath and for potential exposure to human source airborne respiratory pathogens. Results: The weekly mean, workday, CO2 concentration differential ranged from 37 to 250 ppm with a peak CO2 concentration above background of 312 ppm as compared with the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommended maximum differential of 700 ppm. We determined the frequency of sick leave among 294 hourly workers scheduled to work approximately 49,804.2 days in the study areas using company records. We found no association between sick leave and CO2 differential. Conclusions: The CO2 differential was in the range of very low values, as compared with the ASHRAE recommended maximum differential of 700 ppm. Although no effect was found, this study was unable to test whether higher CO2 differentials may be associated with increased sick leave.en_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_US
dc.relation.isversionofdoi:10.1186/1476-069X-1-3en_US
dc.relation.hasversionhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC149392/pdf/en_US
dash.licenseLAA
dc.titleA Study of Indoor Carbon Dioxide Levels and Sick Leave among Office Workersen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.description.versionVersion of Recorden_US
dc.relation.journalEnvironmental Healthen_US
dash.depositing.authorMilton, Donald Kirby
dc.date.available2010-11-10T21:10:23Z
dash.affiliation.otherSPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Programen_US
dash.affiliation.otherSPH^Exposure Epidemiology and Risk Programen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1476-069X-1-3*
dash.contributor.affiliatedWalters, Michael D.
dash.contributor.affiliatedRudnick, Stephen
dash.contributor.affiliatedMilton, Donald


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