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      Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments

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          Abstract

          Background:

          The indoor built environment plays a critical role in our overall well-being because of both the amount of time we spend indoors (~90%) and the ability of buildings to positively or negatively influence our health. The advent of sustainable design or green building strategies reinvigorated questions regarding the specific factors in buildings that lead to optimized conditions for health and productivity.

          Objective:

          We simulated indoor environmental quality (IEQ) conditions in “Green” and “Conventional” buildings and evaluated the impacts on an objective measure of human performance: higher-order cognitive function.

          Methods:

          Twenty-four participants spent 6 full work days (0900–1700 hours) in an environmentally controlled office space, blinded to test conditions. On different days, they were exposed to IEQ conditions representative of Conventional [high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)] and Green (low concentrations of VOCs) office buildings in the United States. Additional conditions simulated a Green building with a high outdoor air ventilation rate (labeled Green+) and artificially elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels independent of ventilation.

          Results:

          On average, cognitive scores were 61% higher on the Green building day and 101% higher on the two Green+ building days than on the Conventional building day (p < 0.0001). VOCs and CO2 were independently associated with cognitive scores.

          Conclusions:

          Cognitive function scores were significantly better under Green+ building conditions than in the Conventional building conditions for all nine functional domains. These findings have wide-ranging implications because this study was designed to reflect conditions that are commonly encountered every day in many indoor environments.

          Citation:

          Allen JG, MacNaughton P, Satish U, Santanam S, Vallarino J, Spengler JD. 2016. Associations of cognitive function scores with carbon dioxide, ventilation, and volatile organic compound exposures in office workers: a controlled exposure study of green and conventional office environments. Environ Health Perspect 124:805–812; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1510037

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          Most cited references36

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          R: a language and environment for statistic computing

          R.D.C. Team, R Development Core Team, RDC Team … (2008)
          Article 0 comments Cited 395 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            The effects of outdoor air supply rate in an office on perceived air quality, sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms and productivity.

            I G Clausen, J Sundell, B Fanger … (2000)
            Perceived air quality, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms and productivity were studied in a normally furnished office space (108 m3) ventilated with an outdoor airflow of 3, 10 or 30 L/s per person, corresponding to an air change rate of 0.6, 2 or 6 h-1. The temperature of 22 degrees C, the relative humidity of 40% and all other environmental parameters remained unchanged. Five groups of six female subjects were each exposed to the three ventilation rates, one group and one ventilation rate at a time. Each exposure lasted 4.6 h and took place in the afternoon. Subjects were unaware of the intervention and remained thermally neutral by adjusting their clothing. They assessed perceived air quality and SBS symptoms at intervals, and performed simulated normal office work. Increasing ventilation decreased the percentage of subjects dissatisfied with the air quality (P < 0.002) and the intensity of odour (P < 0.02), and increased the perceived freshness of air (P < 0.05). It also decreased the sensation of dryness of mouth and throat (P < 0.0006), eased difficulty in thinking clearly (P < 0.001) and made subjects feel generally better (P < 0.0001). The performance of four simulated office tasks improved monotonically with increasing ventilation rates, and the effect reached formal significance in the case of text-typing (P < 0.03). For each two-fold increase in ventilation rate, performance improved on average by 1.7%. This study shows the benefits for health, comfort and productivity of ventilation at rates well above the minimum levels prescribed in existing standards and guidelines. It confirms the results of a previous study in the same office when the indoor air quality was improved by decreasing the pollution load while the ventilation remained unchanged.
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              Associations between classroom CO2 concentrations and student attendance in Washington and Idaho.

              D. G. Shendell, R Prill, W J Fisk … (2004)
              Student attendance in American public schools is a critical factor in securing limited operational funding. Student and teacher attendance influence academic performance. Limited data exist on indoor air and environmental quality (IEQ) in schools, and how IEQ affects attendance, health, or performance. This study explored the association of student absence with measures of indoor minus outdoor carbon dioxide concentration (dCO(2)). Absence and dCO(2) data were collected from 409 traditional and 25 portable classrooms from 22 schools located in six school districts in the states of Washington and Idaho. Study classrooms had individual heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, except two classrooms without mechanical ventilation. Classroom attributes, student attendance and school-level ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) were included in multivariate modeling. Forty-five percent of classrooms studied had short-term indoor CO(2) concentrations above 1000 p.p.m. A 1000 p.p.m. increase in dCO(2) was associated (P < 0.05) with a 0.5-0.9% decrease in annual average daily attendance (ADA), corresponding to a relative 10-20% increase in student absence. Annual ADA was 2% higher (P < 0.0001) in traditional than in portable classrooms. This study provides motivation for larger school studies to investigate associations of student attendance, and occupant health and student performance, with longer term indoor minus outdoor CO(2) concentrations and more accurately measured ventilation rates. If our findings are confirmed, improving classroom ventilation should be considered a practical means of reducing student absence. Adequate or enhanced ventilation may be achieved, for example, with educational training programs for teachers and facilities staff on ventilation system operation and maintenance. Also, technological interventions such as improved automated control systems could provide continuous ventilation during occupied times, regardless of occupant thermal comfort demands.
              Article 0 comments Cited 80 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Environ Health Perspect
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Environ. Health Perspect
                Journal ID (publisher-id): EHP
                Title: Environmental Health Perspectives
                Publisher: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
                ISSN (Print): 0091-6765
                ISSN (Electronic): 1552-9924
                Publication date (Electronic): 26 October 2015
                Publication date (Print): June 2016
                Volume: 124
                Issue: 6
                Pages: 805-812
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Exposure, Epidemiology, and Risk Program, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
                [2 ]Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY-Upstate Medical School, Syracuse, New York, USA
                [3 ]Industrial Assessment Center, Center of Excellence, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
                Author notes
                [† ]Address correspondence to J.G. Allen, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 401 Park Dr., Landmark Center, 404-L, Boston, MA 02215 USA. Telephone: (617) 384-8475. E-mail: JGAllen@ 123456hsph.harvard.edu
                Article
                Publisher ID: ehp.1510037
                DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1510037
                PMC ID: 4892924
                PubMed ID: 26502459
                SO-VID: da7c4644-a95b-4a80-974b-604b7f1808e2
                License:

                Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from EHP may be reprinted freely. Use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, “Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives”); pertinent reference information should be provided for the article from which the material was reproduced. Articles from EHP, especially the News section, may contain photographs or illustrations copyrighted by other commercial organizations or individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from the holder of the copyright.

                History
                Date received : 4 April 2015
                Date accepted : 12 October 2015
                Categories
                Subject: Research

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Public health

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