Aims: To determine if New Zealand office personnel experienced a prevalence of sick building syndrome type symptoms similar to levels reported in the international literature.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 360 office workers in Palmerston North was conducted using a questionnaire based on that used in a previous UK study to estimate the frequency of symptoms of the sick building syndrome.
Results: More than 80% of both populations experienced some building-related symptoms, with lethargy, stuffy noses, dry throat and headache regularly affect over 40% of both the Palmerston North and UK samples. New Zealand subjects experienced comparable or slightly higher levels of symptoms, except for itchy eyes, which were significantly more prevalent. A gender and employment bias was found in both studies.
Conclusions: Sick building syndrome was found to be sufficiently prevalent in both surveys to warrant concern. There were sufficient similarities between the two populations to suggest that the conclusions from the UK survey are applicable to the New Zealand context.