Sick building syndrome, perceived odors, sensation of air dryness and indoor environment in Urumqi, China

In order to evaluate the perceived home indoor air quality, as well as sick building syndrome (SBS) in areas with typical arid continental climate such as Urumqi, northwest of China, a cross-sectional study including 4,260 parents of children (1-8 years) was performed by a questionnaire survey in winter season in 2011. The sensation of air dryness (weekly/sometimes) in the last 3 months had the highest proportion of reports by more than half of the parents (57.4 %), followed by perceived stuffy odor (40.6 %), unpleasant odor (27.0 %), tobacco smoke odor (25.5 %), sensation of humid air (17.9 %), pungent odor (11.7 %) and moldy odor (9.5 %), respectively. The prevalence of SBS symptoms in the same time period was 40.4 % for general symptom, 47.7 % for mucosal symptom and 9.5 % for skin symptom, respectively. There were significant associations between perceived odors/sensation of air dryness and SBS symptoms (ORs range 1.39-1.42). Additionally, the OR values increased with an increase of the OH score (P < 0.05). Dampness, the presence of cockroaches and mosquitoes/flies, prenatal exposure to decoration and close to traffic were all risk factors of SBS symptoms. However, frequently putting bedding to sunshine was potentially a protective factor. In conclusion, adults' perceptions of odors and sensation of air dryness are related to SBS symptoms and home environmental factors in Urumqi, China.