Prevalence of respiratory symptoms of the upper and lower airways in office block workers, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A sample of 269 workers, selected randomly from 1600 employees of a sealed 42-storeyoffice building of a major bank in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, responded to the standard RoyalSociety of Health Advisory Group questionnaire about Sick Building Syndrome.Upper airways respiratory symptoms occupied a prominent position, with a prevalence ofaround 40%, whereas the lower airways manifestations frequencies were below 20%. Themost prevalent symptoms were lethargy/tiredness and headache, with values over 50%,although these are the symptoms that least improved out off the work environment.The nasopharyngeal and ophthalmic manifestations seem to be those that suffer a greaterinfluence from the internal environment, for they present the highest indices of improvementwhen the worker is away from the workplace.