INDOOR BEHAVIOR

Because people now spend nearly 100% of their time indoors and because of changes in building ventilation and emissions over the last 100 ye ars, there has been growing interest of the public and science on indo or air quality and climate and its influence on human health. While kn owledge on some indoor-related illnesses exists, many questions still remain regarding a complex of unspecific symptoms mostly found in air conditioned office buildings. This complex of symptoms, called sick bu ilding syndrome (SBS), is characterized by skin and mucous membrane as well as central nervous system symptoms. Extensive epidemiological re search in recent years has shown different causes, but there has been little effort towards understanding the basic mechanisms of SBS. Inten sified experimental-epidemiological research will be necessary to avoi d health complaints and economic costs. The annual cost due to illness and loss of productivity from SBS in the U.S. has been estimated to b e $55 billion for commercial buildings.