William H. Farquhar Middle School, Olney, MD. Photo credit: Patrick Ross
School Health Research Library
We have curated a library of peer-reviewed scientific studies from around the world published since 2016, focusing on the school built environment and occupant health and performance. This research builds on the 2017 Schools for Health: Foundations for Student Success report released by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health that synthesizes foundational research about school indoor environmental quality impacts on students and staff.
To help translate this research into action in schools, we have compiled School Health Research Highlights to help school staff and leaders access key findings and actionable strategies on priority topics.
Displaying 291 - 300 of 355 | Export entire research library
Indoor air pollution, physical and comfort parameters related to school children's health: Data from the European SINPHONIE study
Baloch, Ramen Munir
Schoolchildren exposed to above or equal median concentration of PM2.5, benzene, limonene, ozone and radon were at significantly higher odds of suffering from upper, lower airways, eye and systemic disorders. Increased odds were also observed for…
Keywords: Indoor air pollution, Allergy, Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Sick building syndrome, Multi-pollution, Thermal parameters
Effects of Ventilation Improvement on Measured and Perceived Indoor Air Quality in a School Building with a Hybrid Ventilation System
Vornanen-Winqvist, Camilla
A significant change in indoor mycobiota was found; the dominant, opportunistic human pathogenic species Trichoderma citrinoviride found in settled dust in the classroom before the improvement was nolonger detected. In addition, the concentrations…
Keywords: Ventilation, Hybrid ventilation, Indoor air quality, Mycobiota, Indoor air questionnaire, School buildings, Trichoderma citrinoviride
Analyzing symptom data in indoor air questionnaires for primary schools
Ung-Lanki, S
based on prevalence of symptoms, their test-retest repeatability (ICC), and on principal component analysis (PCA), the number of symptoms was reduced to 17 and six symptoms scores were developed. Six variants of these six symptom scores were then…
Keywords: Indoor environment, Primary schools, Principal component analysis, Questionnaire, Symptom score, Symptoms
Environmental assessments on schools located on or near former industrial facilities: Feedback on attenuation factors for the prediction of indoor air quality
Derycke, Virginie
This feedback on the attenuation factors also shows that some environ-
mental variables, usually collected during an environmental assessment,
can help refining attenuation factors, particularly the“building age” variable. The latter can…
Keywords: Vapor intrusion soil gas volatile compounds french national campaign multivariate analysis environmental assessment
The associations of indoor environment and psychosocial factors on the subjective evaluation of Indoor Air Quality among lower secondary school students: a multilevel analysis
Finell, E
On the student level, school-related stress, poor teacher–student relationship, and whether the student did not easily receive help from school personnel, were significantly associated with poor subjective IAQ. On the school level, observed indoor…
Keywords: Sychosocial environment, Stress, Multilevel analysis, Lower secondary schools, Indoor air problems
Outdoor Air Emissions, Land Use, and Land Cover around Schools on Tribal Lands
Barros, Nirmalla
Closest emission sources were oil, gas, airport, and manufacturing facilities. Maximum annual outdoor air concentrations were measured for toluene at two schools (29 ppb and 15 ppb, 2011), located four miles from a solid waste landfill and eight…
Keywords: Children, School, American indian/alaska native, Air pollution, Land use, Land cover
Factors affecting variability in gaseous and particle microenvironmental air pollutant concentrations in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools
Che, Wenwei
Ten factors were significantly associated with indoor microenvironmental concentrations, together accounting for 74%, 61%, 46%, and 38% of variations observed for PM 2.5, PM10, O3, and NO2 microenvironmental concentrations, respectively. Outdoor…
Keywords: Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), Indoor air quality, Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Ozone (O3), Respirable particulate matter (PM 10), School exposure
Indoor exposure levels of bacteria and fungi in residences, schools, and offices in China: A systematic review
Guo, Kangqi
Results show that the concentration of indoor bacteria varies from 72.5 to 7500 CFU/m3, with a median value of 1000 CFU/m3, and the concentration of fungi varies from 12 to 9730 CFU/m3, with a median value of 526CFU/m3. The concentration level of…
Keywords: Air quality, Bacteria, China, Fungi, Indoor, Systematic review
Association between indoor microbiome exposure and sick building syndrome (SBS) in junior high schools of Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Fu, Xi
In total, 326 bacterial and 255 fungal genera were detected in dust with large compositional variation among classrooms. Also, half of these samples showed low compositional similarity to microbiome data deposited in the public database. The number…
Keywords:
A review of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in the indoor environment: occurrence in consumer products, indoor air and dust
Lucattini, Luisa
Concentrations of SVOCs in consumer products, indoor dust and air are reported (e.g. PFASs max: 13.9 mg/g in textiles, 5.8mg/kg in building materials, 121 ng/g in house dust and 6.4 ng/m3 in indoor air). Most of the studies show common aims, such as…
Keywords: Consumer products, Indoor air, Indoor dust, SVOCs