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The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality

Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN Conference paperpeer-review

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The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality. / Rho, Taehyun; Baek, Juha; Moreno Rangel, Alejandro et al.
2021. Paper presented at APHA's 2021, United States.

Research output: Contribution to conference - Without ISBN/ISSN Conference paperpeer-review

Harvard

Rho, T, Baek, J, Moreno Rangel, A, Cabrera-Conner, L & Carrillo, G 2021, 'The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality', Paper presented at APHA's 2021, United States, 24/10/21 - 27/10/21.

APA

Rho, T., Baek, J., Moreno Rangel, A., Cabrera-Conner, L., & Carrillo, G. (in press). The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality. Paper presented at APHA's 2021, United States.

Vancouver

Rho T, Baek J, Moreno Rangel A, Cabrera-Conner L, Carrillo G. The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality. 2021. Paper presented at APHA's 2021, United States.

Author

Bibtex

@conference{6490420612ab4caa9f96a92c9cda3080,
title = "The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee{\textquoteright}s health: Implication of indoor air quality",
abstract = "Background: Indoor air quality (IAQ) has a significant impact on human health. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more employees work remotely from home to reduce in-person contacts. This study aims to measure the difference in indoor air quality between the office and home environments and its impact on employees{\textquoteright} health. Methods: This was a pilot study conducted in McAllen, Texas, in two settings; 1) offices during January-July 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and 2) homes during June-October 2020. A total of eleven employees working in an academic organization participated in this study. The levels of particulate matter 2.5 µm (PM2.5), total volatile organic chemicals (tVOC), and CO2 were monitored in offices and households at multiple locations for a month. The frequencies of six symptoms of the Sick Building Syndrome (e.g., dry eyes) were evaluated at each period of monitoring. Results: In 82% of participants, the PM2.5 levels in households were significantly higher than those in offices (p<0.05). All households showed PM2.5 levels greater than the annual mean standard (10 ug/m3), while 82% of offices showed levels in compliance with it. The tVOC and CO2 levels were all below the guideline. Among 9 subjects who completed both health surveys, 7 subjects reported the changes in health outcomes in accordance with different PM2.5 levels between those two periods. Conclusions: This study showed that working from home during the pandemic may pose more health concerns for employees due to the poor indoor air quality. The interventions to improve the home IAQ and health outcomes should be considered.",
author = "Taehyun Rho and Juha Baek and {Moreno Rangel}, Alejandro and Lucy Cabrera-Conner and Genny Carrillo",
year = "2021",
month = jun,
day = "1",
language = "English",
note = "APHA's 2021 : Creating the Healthiest Nation: Strengthening Social Connectedness, APHA 2021 ; Conference date: 24-10-2021 Through 27-10-2021",
url = "https://www.apha.org/Events-and-Meetings/Annual",

}

RIS

TY - CONF

T1 - The impact of working from home during COVID-19 pandemic on employee’s health: Implication of indoor air quality

AU - Rho, Taehyun

AU - Baek, Juha

AU - Moreno Rangel, Alejandro

AU - Cabrera-Conner, Lucy

AU - Carrillo, Genny

PY - 2021/6/1

Y1 - 2021/6/1

N2 - Background: Indoor air quality (IAQ) has a significant impact on human health. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more employees work remotely from home to reduce in-person contacts. This study aims to measure the difference in indoor air quality between the office and home environments and its impact on employees’ health. Methods: This was a pilot study conducted in McAllen, Texas, in two settings; 1) offices during January-July 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and 2) homes during June-October 2020. A total of eleven employees working in an academic organization participated in this study. The levels of particulate matter 2.5 µm (PM2.5), total volatile organic chemicals (tVOC), and CO2 were monitored in offices and households at multiple locations for a month. The frequencies of six symptoms of the Sick Building Syndrome (e.g., dry eyes) were evaluated at each period of monitoring. Results: In 82% of participants, the PM2.5 levels in households were significantly higher than those in offices (p<0.05). All households showed PM2.5 levels greater than the annual mean standard (10 ug/m3), while 82% of offices showed levels in compliance with it. The tVOC and CO2 levels were all below the guideline. Among 9 subjects who completed both health surveys, 7 subjects reported the changes in health outcomes in accordance with different PM2.5 levels between those two periods. Conclusions: This study showed that working from home during the pandemic may pose more health concerns for employees due to the poor indoor air quality. The interventions to improve the home IAQ and health outcomes should be considered.

AB - Background: Indoor air quality (IAQ) has a significant impact on human health. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more employees work remotely from home to reduce in-person contacts. This study aims to measure the difference in indoor air quality between the office and home environments and its impact on employees’ health. Methods: This was a pilot study conducted in McAllen, Texas, in two settings; 1) offices during January-July 2019 (pre-COVID-19) and 2) homes during June-October 2020. A total of eleven employees working in an academic organization participated in this study. The levels of particulate matter 2.5 µm (PM2.5), total volatile organic chemicals (tVOC), and CO2 were monitored in offices and households at multiple locations for a month. The frequencies of six symptoms of the Sick Building Syndrome (e.g., dry eyes) were evaluated at each period of monitoring. Results: In 82% of participants, the PM2.5 levels in households were significantly higher than those in offices (p<0.05). All households showed PM2.5 levels greater than the annual mean standard (10 ug/m3), while 82% of offices showed levels in compliance with it. The tVOC and CO2 levels were all below the guideline. Among 9 subjects who completed both health surveys, 7 subjects reported the changes in health outcomes in accordance with different PM2.5 levels between those two periods. Conclusions: This study showed that working from home during the pandemic may pose more health concerns for employees due to the poor indoor air quality. The interventions to improve the home IAQ and health outcomes should be considered.

M3 - Conference paper

T2 - APHA's 2021

Y2 - 24 October 2021 through 27 October 2021

ER -