Objectives  To study the effect of indoor air quality of newly decorated housing on human health by air test and questionnaire survey.

Methods  The tested data for 75 houses at 300 points in Zhongshan city and the results of questionnaire survey on 75 residents living in newly decorated house and 145 residents living in non-newly decorated house were analyzed.

Results  Formaldehyde was the most serious pollutant, and the qualified rate of formaldehyde for newly decorated points and houses was 64.33% and 52.00% respectively. The positive rate of 11 indexes (including lachrymation, ophthalmalgia, eye itching, eye dryness, abnormal odor, cough, throat dryness, dizziness, fatigability, pachulosis and nausea) for residents living in newly decorated houses was higher than those living in non-newly decorated houses (P less than 0.05).The positive rates of lachrymation, eye itching, eye dryness, abnormal odor, throat dryness and pachulosis in the formaldehyde superstandard group was higher than those in the formaldehyde qualified group(P less than 0.05).

Conclusions  The health effects of newly decorated housing were various, mainly on the irritation of eye and throat, and the effect of formaldehyde pollution was serious.