EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF INDOOR BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS

本研究的目的是调查室内空气质量之间的关系，由于生物污染物和化学品，和儿童的过敏，如哮喘和特应性。我们测量了1998年冬季和1999年夏季，有过敏和无过敏儿童居住的房屋内的几种污染物水平。目标污染物为尘螨过敏原、真菌指数、甲醛、挥发性有机化合物等。虽然1998年非过敏儿童家中的大多数化学污染物水平似乎高于过敏儿童家中，但所有差异均不显著。在1999年，尘螨过敏原和其他生物污染物的水平在非过敏儿童的家庭比过敏儿童的家庭更高。然而，过敏儿童家中的HCHO水平较高。这些结果提示，有过敏问题的家庭应尽量消除污染源，并应进行队列研究，以了解室内环境对儿童健康的影响。

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between indoor air quality due to biological contaminants and chemicals, and children's allergies such as asthma and atopy. We measure several pollutant levels inside houses where children with and without allergies were living in the winter, 1998 and in the summer, 1999. Target pollutants were dust mite allergen, fungal index, HCHO, VOCs, et al.Although most chemical pollutant levels seem to be higher in non-allergic children's homes than in allergic children's homes in 1998, all differences were not significant. In 1999, dust mite allergen and other biological pollutant levels were higher in non-allergic children's homes than in allergic children's homes. However, HCHO levels were higher in allergic children's homes. These results suggest that the family with some allergic problem try to remove pollutant origins and we should conduct a cohort study to investigate the effect of indoor environment on children's health.