BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Association between health responses and indoor air quality in Lon
 don primary classrooms - Dr Lia Chatzidiakou
DTSTART:20160229T141500Z
DTEND:20160229T151500Z
UID:TALK64491@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Olalekan Popoola
DESCRIPTION:The increasing interest in Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) of educati
 onal buildings has been underpinned by the rising incidence of asthma and 
 respiratory disease among children\, who spend a substantial amount of the
 ir time on the school premises. Drawing on detailed monitoring data from 1
 5 primary and three nursery London classrooms\, this presentation identifi
 es specific exposures in the classroom that may affect asthma prevalence a
 nd self-reported health symptoms. The study was partially based on the  Eu
 ropean project SINPHONIE (http://www.sinphonie.eu/) among 29 countries. Th
 e multidisciplinary methodology employed direct-reading instrumental sampl
 ing\, passive sampling for long-term measurements\, and determination of m
 icrobiological contaminants with molecular methods. The monitored data wer
 e matched with school and classroom characteristics\, self-reported health
  symptoms and IAQ perception of 376 primary school students in the heating
  and non-heating season\, and were analysed with Bayesian multilevel model
 s. In line with previous evidence\, this study found the highest asthma pr
 evalence in English classrooms among all European participating countries.
  Only NO2 levels were significantly associated with the high asthma preval
 ence reported in this study (OR: 1.11\, 95% CI: 1.04-1.19). Indoor NO2 lev
 els were also associated with higher prevalence and incidence of Sick Buil
 ding Syndrome (SBS) symptoms. SBS describes a constellation of non-specifi
 c health symptoms including general\, mucosal\, dermal and respiratory\, t
 hat have no clear aetiology and are attributable to exposure to a particul
 ar building environment. This study shows that although the schools met cu
 rrent performance building standards\, they were not able to provide a hea
 lthy and satisfactory school environment. \nFindings of this study identif
 ied new pathways for providing adequate IAQ\, including new good practice 
 on designing\, refurbishing\, managing and using current and future school
 s.\n
LOCATION:Unilever Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR