Associations between indoor environment in residential buildings in wet and dry seasons and health of students in upper northern Thailand

We performed a repeated questionnaire study on home environment and health (six medical symptoms) in 1159 junior high school students (age 12.8 +/- 0.7 years) in upper northern Thailand in wet and dry seasons. Data on outdoor temperature, relative humidity (RH), and air pollution were collected from nearest monitoring station. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated by multi-level logistic regression. Most common symptoms were rhinitis (62.5%), headache (49.8%), throat (42.8%), and ocular symptoms (42.5%). Ocular symptoms were more common at lower RH and rhinitis more common in dry season. Water leakage (28.2%), indoor mold (7.1%), mold odor (4.1%), and windowpane condensation (13.6%) were associated with all six symptoms (ORs: 1.3-3.5). Other risk factors included cat keeping, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), other odor than mold odor, gas cooking, and cooking with biomass fire. Biomass burning inside and outside the home for other reasons than cooking was associated with all six symptoms (ORs: 1.5-2.6). Associations between home environment exposure and rhinitis were stronger in wet season. In conclusion, dampness-related exposure, windowpane condensation, cat keeping, ETS, gas cooking, and biomass burning can impair adolescent health in upper northern Thailand. In subtropical areas, environmental health effects should be investigated in wet and dry seasons.

Automated summary

A repeated questionnaire study on home environment and health in junior high school students in upper northern Thailand revealed associations between dampness-related exposure, indoor mold, windowpane condensation, cat keeping, environmental tobacco smoke, and biomass burning with six medical symptoms. Further investigations on environmental health effects in subtropical areas in wet and dry seasons are recommended.