Systematic review of the literature on indoor air quality in healthcare units and its effects on health

Background

Indoor air quality in healthcare facilities such as hospitals and health centres is increasingly considered an important factor for the health and well-being of their occupants, namely workers and patients/users.

Methods

The principal objective of this study was to identify the recent research interests on the subject by carrying out a systematic literature review using the PRISMA methodology applied to systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Of the articles published between 1st January 2019 and 31st March 2024, 38 were selected and analysed.

Results

The results indicated that there has been considerable worldwide interest in the subject of Indoor Air Quality in healthcare units, particularly hospitals, and that it is spread across a wide variety of scientific journals. Hospitals were the healthcare unit with the greatest interest in the evaluated studies and the most studied locations were wards, intensive care units, operating theatres, and emergency rooms. A textometric analysis of the selected articles using IRaMuTeQ software identified five main topics studied: (i) physicochemical parameters; (ii) temperature and humidity assessment; (iii) measures to be adopted to improve the quality of environmental factors and symptoms and/or diseases associated with poor indoor air quality; (iv) infrastructure design and management; and (v) assessment of microbiological parameters. Most of the analysed articles reported data assessed by experimental methods, with the most frequently assessed parameters being carbon dioxide and particulate matter, temperature and relative humidity and chemical parameters (total volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and nitrogen dioxide).

Conclusions

The study provides an overview of recent literature on this subject, presenting guidelines for preserving and improving indoor air quality in healthcare units.