Indoor Air Quality Assessment of Daycare Facilities with Carbon Dioxide, Temperature, and Humidity as Indicators

• Published in: Journal of environmental health Vol. 65; no. 4; pp. 14 - 18
• Main Authors: Ferng, Shiaw-Fen, Lee, Li-Wen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Environmental Health Association 01.11.2002
• Subjects: Air Conditioning; Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis; Air quality; Air quality assessments; Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide - analysis; Carbon monoxide; Child care; Child Day Care Centers - standards; Child health; Child Welfare; Child, Preschool; Children; Day care; Day care centers; daycare; Environmental aspects; Environmental monitoring; Evaluation; FEATURES; Health aspects; Humans; Humidity; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Measurement; Midwestern United States; Mortality; Multiple regression; Q1; Q3; Relative humidity; Room temperature; Statistics; Temperature; USA; Ventilation; Midwestern United States; United States
• ISSN: 0022-0892

Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in daycare facilities affects both attending children and care providers. Incident rates of upper-respiratory-tract infections have been reported to be higher in children who attend daycare. Excessive carbon dioxide (CO₂) exposure can cause several health effects and even sudden infant death. For this study, 26 facilities were randomly selected in a Midwestern county of the United States. CO₂, room temperature, and relative humidity were used as indicators for IAQ and comfort levels. These IAQ parameters were continuously monitored for eight hours at each facility by a direct-reading instrument that was calibrated before each measurement. More than 50 percent of the facilities had an average CO₂ level over the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard of 1,000 parts per million (ppm). For temperature and relative humidity, respectively, 42.3 percent and 15.4 percent of facilities were outside of the ASHRAE-recommended comfort zones. The nap-time average CO₂ level was about 117 ppm higher than the non-nap-time level. The increment of the nap-time CO₂ level in the sleeping-only room over the level in multipurpose rooms was statistically significant (p < .05). According to stepwise multiple regression analysis, nap-time CO₂ level was predicted by CO₂ level before occupancy, nap-time average temperature, carbon monoxide, and child density (R² = .83). It is recommended that an appropriate IAQ standard for daycare facilities be established and that children should not be placed in a completely isolated room during nap time.