An intervention field study to improve ventilation, indoor air quality, and the respiratory health in northern and remote homes

摘要

Homes with inadequate ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) are particularly common in northern and remote communities. Previous studies have observed that the indoor air in these homes can have elevated concentrations of CO2, environmental tobacco smoke, and elevated relative humidity (RH) leading to mold issues. These conditions may cause various health problems, such as compromised respiratory health, for the occupants and in particular in children with developing respiratory systems.The objectives of this current study were to measure the effectiveness of targeted preventative maintenance of existing heating and ventilation systems at improving ventilation, IAQ and the respiratory health of children. This study enrolled homes with children under the age 10 in both an intervention group (55 homes) and control group (24 homes) over the winter and spring of 2017-18 in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada. Various IAQ ventilation, and behavioral characteristics were measured through field sampling and through questionnaires in the intervention group both before and after the intervention. No field sampling was conducted in the control group.Following the intervention we observed large reductions in the median values a number of health relevant IAQ parameters. We observed statistically significant reductions (pre-intervention, post-intervention, A%, p-value) in RH (31.4 RH, 28.5 RH, -9.3%, p<0.05), CO (2.9 ppm, 1.5 ppm, -46.7%, p<0.01), C02 (907 ppm, 668 ppm, -26.4%, p<0.01), PM2.5 (6.0 pg mA3,4.4 pg mA3, -26.6%, p<0.01), formaldehyde (13.5 pg mA3,10.3 pg mA3, -23.7%, p<0.01) while the measured air exchange rate increased by 68.7% (0.16 1/h, 0.27 1/h, +68.7, p<0.01). This study demonstrated that targeted preventative maintenance and optimization of ventilation systems can significantly improve ventilation rates and IAQ as a result. This presentation will discuss the ventilation and IAQ results obtained during this study while the health and microbiological aspects of this study will be discussed in later publications.