Peder Skov

The “sick” building syndrome in the office environment: The Danish town hall study

Abstract Measurements of the indoor climate were performed in 14 town halls in Greater Copenhagen, Denmark, together with a questionnaire study and a clinical study of 4369 employees in the town halls and 14 affiliated buildings. The return rate for the questionnaire study was 80% and the participation rate for the clinical study 77%. The many indoor climate factors determined resulted in values mainly at the levels normally considered acceptable or in values in accordance with levels previously reported. The prevalence of work-related mucosal irritation and of work-related general symptoms in the employees differed highly between the individual town halls. The lowest prevalences of symptoms were found for the oldest town halls, whereas there were no statistically significant difference between naturally and mechanically ventilated buildings. The preliminary analyses showed that sex, job category, photoprinting, working with video display terminals, and handling carbonless paper correlated significantly with the presence of work-related mucosal irritation and general symptoms.

Foam at inner eye canthus in office workers, compared with an average Danish population as control group

Abstract Foam formation in the eye canthus is well‐known. The presence of foam was observed in 169 office workers in 4 town halls in Copenhagen County compared with 112 control persons from the general population in the same area. The presence of foam depends on age and gender. A significant increase with age was observed in the control population (P=0.0078). In both groups, females had a significantly lower occurrence of foam than males (P=0.0043, P=0.010). This difference was mainly caused by the use of eye make‐up. After correction for age, gender and use of eye make‐up, the prevalence of foam was significantly lower in the office population than in the control population (P<0.0001). Furthermore, low foam formation was significantly correlated to reported subjective eye irritation in the office population (P=0.0074), but not in the control population (P=0.40). Also, significant positive correlation between absence of foam and different degrees of dry eyes (expressed as a combination of premature break‐up of the precorneal tearfilm and lissamine green stained epithelial damage of the bulbar conjunctiva) was found both in the office population and in the control population (P=0.0090, P=0.0034). However, after correction for the more frequent appearance of dry eyes in the office population, foam was still observed significantly less frequently in the office population than in the control population (P=0.0001). It is concluded that the decreased foam formation in the office worker constitutes a key symptom in the development of ‘office eye syndrome’. In what way the office environment influences the foam formation is unknown. Possible mechanisms are discussed.

Prevalence of objective eye manifestations in people working in office buildings with different prevalences of the sick building syndrome compared with the general population

SummaryA cross-sectional clinical epidemiological study was carried out among 169 office workers in four Copenhagen town halls with different prevalences of the sick building syndrome. The results were compared with those in 112 subjects randomly selected from the general population. Biomicroscopic eye manifestations, such as premature break-up of the precorneal tear film, absence of foam at the inner eye canthus and epithelial damage of the bulbar conjunctiva, were investigated together with self-reported eye complaints. Although intercorrelated, the objective eye manifestations independently were statistically associated with self-reported eye complaints in office workers. The prevalence of the objective eye manifestations was significantly elevated in office workers compared with the general population and most pronounced for the buildings with a high prevalence of the sick building syndrome (P < 0.001). In the general population, subjects with a non-industrial occupation, including office workers, had a significantly higher prevalence of objective eye manifestations than those with an industrial occupation (P = 0.03), but the prevalence was still significantly lower than that among the office workers in buildings with a high prevalence of the sick building syndrome (P<0.001). Since possible confounders were found not to explain the difference in prevalence of objective eye manifestations and complaints among the two populations, it is concluded that the office environment (buildings and/or type of office work) promotes these objective changes accompanied by self-reported complaints.

Lifetime Occupational Physical Activity and Musculoskeletal Aging in Middle-Aged Men and Women in Denmark: Retrospective Cohort Study Protocol and Methods

Background Physical function is essential for performing most aspects of daily life and musculoskeletal aging leads to a decline in physical function. The onset and rate of this process vary and are influenced by environmental, genetic, and hormonal factors. Although everyone eventually experiences musculoskeletal aging, it is beneficial to study the factors that influence the aging process in order to prevent disability. The role of occupational physical activity in the musculoskeletal aging process is unclear. In the past, hard physical work was thought to strengthen the worker, but current studies in this field fail to find a training effect in jobs with a high level of occupational physical activity. Objective The aim of this study is to examine the influence of lifetime occupational physical activity on physical function in midlife. The study follows the “occupational life-course perspective,” emphasizing the importance of occupational exposures accumulated throughout life on the musculoskeletal aging process taking socioeconomic and lifestyle factors into consideration. Methods This study is a retrospective cohort study including a cross-sectional measurement of physical function in 5000 middle-aged Danes. Data was obtained from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB) which is based on three existing Danish cohorts. Using questionnaire information about the five longest-held occupations, the job history was coded from the Danish version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (D-ISCO 88) and a job exposure matrix containing information about occupational physical activity in Danish jobs was applied to the dataset. The primary outcomes are three tests of physical function: handgrip strength, balance, and chair rise. In the analyses, we will compare physical function in midlife according to accumulated exposure to high levels of occupational physical activity. Conclusions We have a unique opportunity to study the influence of work on early musculoskeletal aging taking other factors into account. In this study, the “healthy worker effect” is reduced due to inclusion of people from the working population and people who are already retired or have been excluded from the labor market. However, low participation in the physical tests can lead to selection bias.