House-plant placement for indoor air purification and health benefits on asthmatics.
OBJECTIVE
Some plants were placed in indoor locations frequented by asthmatics in order to evaluate the quality of indoor air and examine the health benefits to asthmatics.


METHODS
The present study classified the participants into two groups: households of continuation and households of withdrawal by a quasi-experimental design. The households of continuation spent the two observation terms with indoor plants, whereas the households of withdrawal passed the former observation terms with indoor plants and went through the latter observation term without any indoor plants.


RESULTS
The household of continuation showed a continual decrease in the indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the entire observation period, but the household of withdrawal performed an increase in the indoor concentrations of VOCs, except formaldehyde and toluene during the latter observation term after the decrease during the former observation term. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) increased in the households of continuation with the value of 13.9 L/min in the morning and 20.6 L/ min in the evening, but decreased in the households of withdrawal with the value of -24.7 L/min in the morning and -30.2 L/min in the evening in the first experimental season. All of the households exhibited a decrease in the value of PEFR in the second experimental season.


CONCLUSIONS
Limitations to the generalizability of findings regarding the presence of plants indoors can be seen as a more general expression of such a benefit of human-environment relations.
Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Ho-Hyun
HH
Kim
Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Ji-Yeon
JY
Yang
Institute of Life Science & Resources, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea.
Jae-Young
JY
Lee
Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jung-Won
JW
Park
National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon, Korea.
Kwang-Jin
KJ
Kim
Department of Environmental Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea.
Byung-Seo
BS
Lim
Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Geon-Woo
GW
Lee
Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Si-Eun
SE
Lee
Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Dong-Chun
DC
Shin
Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young-Wook
YW
Lim
Asthma; Formaldehyde; Health; House-plant; Indoor air quality; Volatile organic compounds