Indoor Environmental Quality and health Outcomes among Students in Naturally Ventilated Hostels of a University in Sub-Sahara African Region

Abstract

This study examined variances between the effect of aspects of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) as against that of overall IEQ on health outcomes among hostel occupants in a university within the sub-Sahara African region. IEQ parameters considered are Thermal, Visual, Acoustics, and Indoor Air Quality. These, along with the overall IEQ, were examined in selected rooms to establish the relationships between them and occupants’ health outcomes. A questionnaire was administered to 462 occupants toward the end of taking physical measurements of IEQ parameters in the rooms for four weeks in a row during the wet and dry seasons. Physical health outcomes reported by occupants were documented using the questionnaire. The sub-indexes for the IEQ aspects were calculated using z-score normalization method based on the mean values and the standard deviation of the data, while the overall IEQ was aggregated from the parameters of the four aspects using a geometric mean equation. Multiple regression analysis showed that individual parameters accounted for 14.5% of the variance in cold symptoms compared to 4.4% for the overall IEQ, and 4.3% for headaches compared to 1.3% for the overall IEQ. For fatigue, both models had very low explanatory power (0.9% and 0.7%, respectively). The study concludes that composite IEQ indices have limited potentials in forecasting discomfort that is related to specific health outcomes.