Study on Correlations between Indoor Air Quality and Student Health in Primary Schools in Huairou District, Beijing

Objectives To study the correlations between indoor air quality and primary school students' health, providing bases for the health management in local areas.

Methods Two primary schools in the urban area with more than 1 000 students were selected. The monitoring sites were:1 student activity room, 2 classrooms of each grade from (3~5)th grade, and 1 outdoor monitoring site. The number of samples was:485 questionnaires and 60 pulmonary function tests; χ² test and linear correlation analysis were used to analyze the result.

Results 31 air quality samples were collected from 14 indoor and outdoor monitoring sites of two schools and 10 were qualified. The qualified rate was 32.26%, and the over-standard indicators were all CO₂. The analysis result of correlations between indoor air quality and student health in two schools showed that the prevalence rate of students was positively correlated with the concentration of indoor carbon dioxide in the classroom (r=0.71, P=0.014).

Conclusions The indoor air quality of the two schools has a risk on the health of students. Therefore, ventilation should be strengthened to maintain indoor CO₂ to satisfy the standard and prevent diseases.