Objective To assess the indoor air quality (indoor air quality, IAQ) of barber shops and beauty salons in Shiyan city, Hubei Province, China, and to investigate the association between IAQ and the health status of practitioners.

Methods Indoor air quality monitoring was performed in barber shops and beauty salons where were randomly selected in Shiyan city in 2019—2021, while the health information of practitioners was collected. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between IAQ and self-reported health symptoms of practitioners.

Results IAQ data were collected for 5 rounds and health data were collected from 212 practitioners. Unqualified concentrations of ammonia, formaldehyde, and PM_2.5 were observed in indoor air, and the rates of self-reported eyes, respiratory, and skin symptoms were 22.2%, 20.2%, and 16.5%, respectively, among the practitioners. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the higher the exposure concentration of ammonia in the air, the higher the risk of eyes symptoms in practitioners(odds ratio OR=5.83, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.11-36.98); the higher the exposure concentrations of formaldehyde, ammonia and PM_2.5, the higher the risk of respiratory symptomsOR (95%CI) values were 4.73 (1.08, 23.38), 5.60 (1.46, 24.77) and 4.51 (1.15, 20.56), respectively, and the higher the risk of skin symptomsOR (95%CI) values were 6.08 (1.03, 41.71), 5.82 (1.16, 36.35) and 7.13 (1.41, 47.59), respectively. In addition, low indoor temperature, young age, and daily working for more than 8 hours were also risk factors for the health status of practitioners.

Conclusion IAQ of barber shops and beauty salons in Shiyan city poses certain health risks to practitioners, and special attention should be paid to the potential hazard of air pollutants exceeding the standards. Moreover, the potential health risks due to indoor temperature and daily working hours cannot be ignored.