engleski

Symptoms related to sick building syndrome in clerical workers: associations with psychosocial work environment

OBJECTIVES The relations between the sick building syndrome (SBS) related symptoms and environmental and psychosocial stressors were studied in clerical workers from a bank in Croatia. METHODS The study sample was composed of 272 female clerical workers aged 21-59 years. Two specially prepared questionnaires were used to gather information about symptoms of SBS and personal factors, job demands, work/time pressure, social work related support and anxiety/depression disorders (NIOSH, Kjegaard). Smoking habit was classified according to Brinkman and Coates ; 38% of examined workers were current smokers. The technical investigation comprised an indoor-environment-quality evaluation. For statistical analysis the methods of comparative statistics and multivariate regression were used. RESULTS The experience of one or more SBS symptom (irritative symptoms in the eyes, skin, and upper airways, headache or fatigue) weekly was high (43%) and related to current smoking, low job status and work dissatisfaction. The perceived work stress (55%) and small possibility for work control (39%) were significant independent risk factors for reporting at least one SBS-related symptom. The relative risk estimates for reported anxiety disorders in workers with SBS-related symptoms versus workers without symptoms after adjusting for age, gender, work with video terminal and smoking were statistically significant: OR (95%CI) =2.85 (0.93-4.57) ; adjusted OR (95%CI) =1.48 (0.74-3.22). CONCLUSION Various environmental and non-environmental factors such as inadequate work organization and smoking alter the person's sensitivity to environmental irritants and contribute to development of the SBS. As the prevalence of symptoms was high, there is a need to improve the psychosocial work environment.

sick building syndrome; psychosocial factors; smoking; relative risk

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