TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between human health and indoor air pollution in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries
T2 - A review
AU - Amoatey, Patrick
AU - Omidvarborna, Hamid
AU - Baawain, Mahad Said
AU - Al-Mamun, Abdullah
AU - Bari, Aynul
AU - Kindzierski, Warren B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston 2020.
PY - 2020/6/1
Y1 - 2020/6/1
N2 - Studies on the assessment of indoor air pollutants in terms of concentration and characterization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been recently carried out. This review assesses the health effects associated with indoor air pollution exposures in GCC, including other air pollutants (siloxanes, flame retardants, synthetic phenolic antioxidants) which were not explored in a previous study. In addition, the influence of ventilation conditions due to different indoor environments was also investigated. It was revealed that there is a lack of human health assessment studies on most indoor air pollutants in almost all GCC countries, except the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where few attempts were made for some specific pollutants. Commonly reported plausible health effects potentially associated with indoor air pollution were related to respiratory symptoms and sick building syndrome (SBS). Many of the current health assessment studies in GCC countries were based on predictions and/or estimates of exposures rather than clinically based observational studies. Measured ventilation levels and indoor air velocities in most buildings failed to meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) threshold limits of 8 L/s/p and 0.18-0.25 m/s, respectively. Additionally, limited studies have investigated respiratory symptoms and SBS potentially attributable to poor ventilation in the region. It is highly recommended that future indoor air quality (IAQ) studies in GCC should focus more on epidemiologic and intervention studies.
AB - Studies on the assessment of indoor air pollutants in terms of concentration and characterization in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been recently carried out. This review assesses the health effects associated with indoor air pollution exposures in GCC, including other air pollutants (siloxanes, flame retardants, synthetic phenolic antioxidants) which were not explored in a previous study. In addition, the influence of ventilation conditions due to different indoor environments was also investigated. It was revealed that there is a lack of human health assessment studies on most indoor air pollutants in almost all GCC countries, except the United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where few attempts were made for some specific pollutants. Commonly reported plausible health effects potentially associated with indoor air pollution were related to respiratory symptoms and sick building syndrome (SBS). Many of the current health assessment studies in GCC countries were based on predictions and/or estimates of exposures rather than clinically based observational studies. Measured ventilation levels and indoor air velocities in most buildings failed to meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) threshold limits of 8 L/s/p and 0.18-0.25 m/s, respectively. Additionally, limited studies have investigated respiratory symptoms and SBS potentially attributable to poor ventilation in the region. It is highly recommended that future indoor air quality (IAQ) studies in GCC should focus more on epidemiologic and intervention studies.
KW - GCC countries
KW - health assessment
KW - indoor air pollution
KW - respiratory symptons
KW - ventilation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079810661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85079810661&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/reveh-2019-0065
DO - 10.1515/reveh-2019-0065
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32049656
AN - SCOPUS:85079810661
SN - 0048-7554
VL - 35
SP - 157
EP - 171
JO - Reviews on Environmental Health
JF - Reviews on Environmental Health
IS - 2
ER -