Investigation on Indoor Air Pollution and Childhood Allergies in Households in Six Chinese Cities by Subjective Survey and Field Measurements

Jinhua Hu, Nianping Li, Yang Lv, Jing Liu, Jingchao Xie and Huibo Zhang
Additional contact information
Jinhua Hu: College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Nianping Li: College of Civil Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Yang Lv: College of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Jing Liu: School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Jingchao Xie: College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Huibo Zhang: School of Naval Architecture, Ocean & Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-21

Abstract: Greater attention is currently being paid to the relationship between indoor environment and childhood allergies, however, the lack of reliable data and the disparity among different areas hinders reliable assessment of the relationship. This study focuses on the effect of indoor pollution on Chinese schoolchildren and the relationship between specific household and health problems suffered. The epidemiological questionnaire survey and the field measurement of the indoor thermal environment and primary air pollutants including CO 2 , fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), chemical pollutants and fungi were performed in six Chinese cities. A total of 912 questionnaires were eligible for statistical analyses and sixty houses with schoolchildren aged 9–12 were selected for field investigation. Compared with Chinese national standards, inappropriate indoor relative humidity (<30% or >70%), CO 2 concentration exceeding 1000 ppm and high PM 2.5 levels were found in some monitored houses. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) were the most frequently detected semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in house dust. Cladosporium , Aspergillus and Penicillium were detected in both indoor air and house dust. This study indicates that a thermal environment with CO 2 exceeding 1000 ppm, DEHP and DBP exceeding 1000 ?g/g, and high level of PM 2.5 , Cladosporium , Aspergillus and Penicillium increases the risk of children’s allergies.

Keywords: indoor pollution; schoolchildren; allergic diseases; field investigation; fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ); semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs); fungi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/9/979/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/9/979/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:9:p:979-:d:110192

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().