Analysis of Physical Attributes and Occupant Reported Symptoms for 10,000 U.S. Homes

摘要

Background People are exposed to the indoor environment of homes for as much as 90% daily. Despite an increase in chronic disease with suspected environmental exposures, few epidemiological studies include the indoor environment of homes. The complexity of houses combined with the complications of individual susceptibility present a formidable obstacle to well-structured research. Methods An algorithm was developed to rank houses from 1 to 100 based on verifiable physical attributes and behaviours as reported by occupants in an Internet accessed survey. Questions also included a list of symptom complaints, plus whether occupants felt better when they left the house only to recur upon re-entry. Basic statistical analysis was conducted to identify combinations of attributes plus associations between those attributes and behaviours. Results Building on previous analysis from a smaller data set, cascading of the effects of attributes tended to result in lower scores than from singular attributes. Occupant responses to house attributes formed a skewed Bell curve, indicating houses are generally low scoring. Houses with cleanable surfaces, appropriate ventilation, moisture control, and current maintenance, for example, tended to have the fewest complaints. Houses that had difficult to clean surfaces, uncontrolled ventilation, dampness, and poor maintenance tended to have the greatest complaints. Anomalies included those who reported multiple complaints in high scoring houses and those who reported few complaints in low scoring houses. Conclusion General attributes of houses are common but individual houses are complex. Individuality of occupant experience is complex with frequent outliers. Patterns of apparent uniformity plus clusters of anomalies have been identified. The database of 10,000 houses continues to increase. Associations are beginning to be revealed, raising provocative and potential research questions, and contributions to, epidemiological investigations.