THE SICK BUILDING SYNDROME - A DIAGNOSTIC DILEMMA

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is usually defined as an increased occurr ence of non-specific symptoms among populations in determined building s. This definition differs from those of other medical syndromes in th at it refers to a system (a building inclusive of its population) rath er than to a clinical state in a single individual. Such a definition should make the term SBS impossible to use as a diagnosis applied to i ndividual persons. In spite of this, it is often used in this way, and the aim of the article is to discuss problems with this practice. It is a case study based on an office building with longstanding building -related health problems. Information concerning the building and its inhabitants comes from a large number of separate documentary sources. The study demonstrates that the diagnostic use of SBS suffers from se rious weaknesses. It is proposed that such diagnostics could even have a normative force serving to maintain and reinforce building-related, non-specific health problems. It is therefore suggested that the term sick building syndrome should be abandoned. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.