title: Neurological symptoms of the sick building syndrome: analysis of a questionnaire.
abstract: Sick building syndrome (SBS) is an excess of work-related irritations of the skin and mucous membranes and of symptoms such as headache and fatigue in those working in modern air-conditioned buildings. We aimed to analyse the neurological symptoms, especially headache, in workers with potential SBS. The most frequent symptoms were headache and dry eyes. Sex was a major factor of difference: women report more symptoms than men. A positive correlation emerged between the number of symptoms and the asthenia scale score. Only 11 (8.2% of the whole sample) and 37 (27.4%) workers met all the IHS criteria for migraine and tension-type headache respectively. At least one symptom of SBS was present in 92.6% of workers. A negative correlation emerges between air conditioning and headache during working hours. No correlation emerges between the workplace comfort indicator and SBS and asthenic symptoms while a negative correlation was found between migraine and tension-type headache and comfort in the workplace. SBS symptoms are very frequent among all workers but headache is the primary symptom.
authors.affiliation: IRCCS C. Mondino Institute of Neurology, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Citterio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sinforiani
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cristina
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gerosa
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nappi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001247:Asthenia / Q000209:etiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003872:Dermatitis / Q000209:etiology; D015352:Dry Eye Syndromes / Q000209:etiology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018877:Sick Building Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000145:classification