Volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia: Associations with rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue
This paper studied associations between volatile organic compounds (VOC), formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in schools in Malaysia and rhinitis, ocular, nasal and dermal symptoms, headache and fatigue among students. Pupils from eight randomly selected junior high schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (N=462), participated (96%). VOC, formaldehyde and NO2 were measured by diffusion sampling (one week) and VOC also by pumped air sampling during class. Associations were calculated by multi-level logistic regression adjusting for personal factors, the home environment and microbial compounds in the school dust. The prevalence of weekly rhinitis, ocular, throat and dermal symptoms were 18.8%, 11.6%, 15.6%, and 11.1%, respectively. Totally 20.6% had weekly headache and 22.1% fatigue. Indoor CO2 were low (range 380-690 ppm). Indoor median NO2 and formaldehyde concentrations over one week were 23μg/m(3) and 2.0μg/m(3), respectively. Median indoor concentration of toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and limonene over one week were 12.3, 1.6, 78.4 and 3.4μg/m(3), respectively. For benzaldehyde, the mean indoor concentration was 2.0μg/m(3) (median<1μg/m(3)). Median indoor levels during class of benzene and cyclohexane were 4.6 and 3.7μg/m(3), respectively. NO2 was associated with ocular symptoms (p<0.001) and fatigue (p=0.01). Formaldehyde was associated with ocular (p=0.004), throat symptoms (p=0.006) and fatigue (p=0.001). Xylene was associated with fatigue (p<0.001) and benzaldehyde was associated with headache (p=0.03). In conclusion, xylene, benzaldehyde, formaldehyde and NO2 in schools can be risk factors for ocular and throat symptoms and fatigue among students in Malaysia. The indoor and outdoor levels of benzene were often higher than the EU standard of 5μg/m(3).
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 14 December 2021.
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#10,521,827
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Altmetric has tracked 34,372,222 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 69th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 36,881 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 12.1. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 64% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 387 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its contemporaries.
