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 41 - 50 of 355 | Export entire research library
School and childcare facility air quality decision-makers' perspectives on using low-cost sensors for wildfire smoke response
Stampfer, Orly
Three major themes were identified by organizing complementary codes together: (1) Low-cost sensors are useful despite data quality limitations, (2) Low-cost sensor data can inform decision-making to protect children in school and childcare settings…
Keywords: Indoor air quality, Interviews, Low-cost sensors, particulate matter, Schools, Wildfire smoke.
Suspect and non-target screening of semi-volatile emerging contaminants in indoor dust from Danish kindergartens
Zhu, Linyan
A suspect list of 41 chemicals with one or more toxicological endpoints, i.e. endocrine disruption, carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity and allergenicity, known or suspected to be present in indoor dust, was established including phthalate and non-…
Keywords: Chemicals of emerging concern, GC-Orbitrap, Human exposure, Indoor environment, Risk assessment
Particulate matter in school buildings: Influence of influx control of outdoor PM particles and building renovation in summer
Jo, Ho Hyeon
Following the renovation, the result was evaluated. During the daytime, the air curtain led to a reduction in the influx rate of PM of approximately 8% when the door was open. During the nighttime, it was confirmed that the fine dust influx rate was…
Keywords: Educational buildings, Indoor environment, Particulate matters, Renovation, School entrance
Assessment of children's exposure to carbonaceous matter and to PM major and trace elements
Faria, T.
Results indicated that the high contribution of particulate organic matter (POM) indoors indicate high contributions of indoor sources to the organic fraction of the particles. The highest concentrations of PM chemical compounds and the highest…
Keywords: Exposure, Dose assessment, particulate matter, Mass closure, Air quality
Environmental pollutants PM2.5, PM10, carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ozone (O3) impair human cognitive functions
Meo, S.A.
The results revealed that the AST-Mean 928.34+/-182.23 vs. 483.79+/-146.73 (p=0.001), AST-mean congruent 889.12+/-197.12 vs. 473.30+/-120.11 (p=0.001), AST-mean in-congruent 988.98+/-201.27 vs. 483.87+/-144.57 (p=0.001), CRTMean 721.36+/-251.72 vs.…
Keywords: Environmental Pollution, Air pollution, Cognitive Functions, Students, Schools, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Effect of portable HEPA filters on COVID-19 period prevalence: an observational quasi-interventional study in German kindergartens
Falkenberg, Timo
The mean COVID-19 period prevalence rates of the control and intervention groups were 186 (95% CI: 137.8 to 238.9) and 372 (95% CI: 226.6 to 517.6) per 1000 children, respectively. The one-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test indicates a p value of 0.989;…
Keywords: COVID-19, community child health, primary prevention, public health.
Kindergarten indoor dust metal(loid) exposure associates with elevated risk of anemia in children
Zheng, Keyang
The results showed that of the 2165 children with available data, 351 (16.2 %) met the WHO definition of anemia. In multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses, we found that for each quartile of DED increase in Cd inhalation, child…
Keywords: Metals, Indoor dust, Child, Kindergarten, Anemia, Hemoglobin
Effectiveness of a Protocol to Reduce Children's Exposure to Particulate Matter and NO2 in Schools during Alert Days
Zauli-Sajani, Stefano
The application of the protocol reduced the indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio for all toxic pollutants. The reduction was also remarkable for PM10-the most critical air quality parameter in the study area (1.5 and 1.1 for non-alert and alert days,…
Keywords: Schools, Indoor air quality, Prevention, particulate matter, severe air pollution episodes
Fine-scale-mapping of Schistosoma haematobium infections at the school and community levels and intermediate host snail abundance in the north of Pemba Island: baseline cross-sectional survey findings before the onset of a 3-year intervention study
Trippler, Lydia
The intermediate host snail Bulinus globosus was detected in 19.8% (33/167) of HWCSs. The overall S. haematobium prevalence was 1.2% (26/2196) in school-aged children and 0.8% (31/3893) in community members, with 0.2% (4/2196) and 0.1% (3/3893)…
Keywords: Bulinus globosus, Distance, Elimination, Fine-scale mapping, Freshwater bodies, Interruption of transmission, Mass drug administration, Schistosoma haematobium, Surveillance response, Test-and-treat.
Hazardous organic pollutants in indoor dust from elementary schools and kindergartens in Greece: Implications for children's health
Besis, Athanasios
The sum concentrations of 20 targeted polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners (?20PBDEs) in dust varied from 58 ng g-1 to 1480 ng g-1, while the sum of 4 novel brominated fire retardants (?4NBFRs) ranged from 28 ng g-1 to 555 ng g-1. Correspondingly…
Keywords: Indoor dust, Schools, Human exposure, Carcinogenic, Non-carcinogenic risk