Is stress the real cause of sick building syndrome?

Workers who seem to have “sick building syndrome” – a cluster of symptoms that affect the eyes, head, upper respiratory tract and skin – could in fact be suffering from stress, according to new research.

Researchers asked 4,000 civil servants from 44 buildings in London about their environment and job pressures, and about symptoms such as coughs and tiredness. They found that dry air and hot offices increased symptoms slightly, but the most important factor was stress – and particularly stress brought on by lack of control, long hours and unsupportive managers.

“We are not making claims that buildings don't matter for anybody, but for the general workforce job stress and job demands seem to have a bigger impact,” said the report’s co-author, Mai Stafford from University College London’s Epidemiology and Public Health department.

The World Health Organisation first identified sick building syndrome more than 20 years ago, blaming its symptoms on poor building design.

But the new research, published in this month’s edition of the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, argues that the condition may be wrongly named.

However, the researchers warn that this does not mean the quality of the physical environment of the workplace is unimportant.

An abstract of the report, “Building health: an epidemiological study of ‘sick building syndrome’ in the Whitehall II study”, is available at oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/4/283