Indoor Air Quality Prior to and Following School Building Renovation in a Mid-Atlantic School District.

Children spend the majority of their time indoors, and a substantial portion of this time in the school environment. Air pollution has been shown to adversely impact lung development and has effects that extend beyond respiratory health. The goal of this study was to evaluate the indoor environment in public schools in the context of an ongoing urban renovation program to investigate the impact of school building renovation and replacement on indoor air quality.

Indoor air quality in inner-city schools and its associations with building characteristics and environmental factors.

Indoor concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and carbon monoxide (CO) were measured across 16 urban public schools in three different seasons. Exceedance of the WHO guidelines for indoor air was observed, mainly for the hourly average NO concentrations. Seasonal variability was statistically significant for indoor NO and CO concentrations, with higher exposures in fall and winter.