Dampness in buildings and health. Nordic interdisciplinary review of the scientific evidence on associations between exposure to "dampness" in buildings and health effects (NORDDAMP).
By C. Bornehag, G. Blomquist, F. Gyntelberg, B. Järvholm, P. Malmberg, L. Nordvall, A. S. Nielsen, G. Pershagen, J. Sundell. Indoor Air: International Journal of Indoor Environment and Health, 2001
731 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Several epidemiological investigations concerning indoor environments have indicated that "dampness" in buildings is associated to health effects such as respiratory symptoms, asthma and allergy. The aim of the present interdisciplinary review is to evaluate this association as shown in the epidemiological literature. A literature search identified 590 peer-reviewed articles of which 61 have been the foundation for this review. The review shows that "dampness" in buildings appears to increase the risk for health effects in the airways, such as cough, wheeze and asthma. Relative risks are in the range of OR 1.4-2.2. There also seems to be an association between "dampness" and other symptoms such as tiredness, headache and airways infections. It is concluded that the evidence for a causal association between "dampness" and health effects is strong. However, the mechanisms are unknown. Several definitions of dampness have been used in the studies, but all seems to be associated with health problems. Sensitisation to mites may be one but obviously not the only mechanism. Even if the mechanisms are unknown, there is sufficient evidence to take preventive measures against dampness in buildings.
Subfields: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis, Speech and Hearing
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/67c61eadb2fb1e0235f84454474c45fef5479c0c
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In Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Citations in the corpus
- The Association between Asthma and Allergic Symptoms in Children and Phthalates in House Dust: A Nested Case–Control Study (2004, background): “Multidisciplinary reviews of the scientific literature on associations between indoor exposures and asthma and allergies (Ahlbom et al. 1998; Andersson et al. 1997; Bornehag et al. 2001; Schneider et al. 2003; Wargocki et al. 2002) indicate that the underlying causal factors responsible for these in”
- Respiratory and Allergic Health Effects of Dampness, Mold, and Dampness-Related Agents: A Review of the Epidemiologic Evidence (2011, result): “Bornehag et al. (2001) reported that findings of studies with independent assessment of both dampness and health effects were similar to findings of studies with more subjective information sources.”
- Do indoor pollutants and thermal conditions in schools influence student performance? A critical review of the literature. (2005, background): “…and asthma, including a section on schools (Committee on the Assessment of Asthma and Indoor Air, 2000); dampness in buildings and health (Bornehag et al., 2001); ventilation rates and health in buildings (Seppanen et al., 1999); HVAC system type and symptoms in buildings (Seppanen and…”