Pages: 93-105
Authors: Péter Rudnai, Éva Csobod, Renáta Szentmihályi, Annamária Mácsik, Mihály János Varró, Anna Páldy, Tamás Pándics, Éva Vaskövi, Tímea Beregszászi, Lívia Nagy, Réka Prókai and Anita Kocic

Children spend about 6-8 hours a day in school therefore it cannot be neglected in what circumstances they do it. They are also more sensitive to environmental impacts than adults. In this paper the aim was to present data on indoor and outdoor school environment, and to describe the pupils’ health status in Hungarian schools. In the frame of two international projects (SEARCH: School Environment And Respiratory health of Children and SINPHONIE: Schools INdoor Pollution and Health Observatory Network In Europe) altogether 1,114 children and their 61 classrooms in 16 schools were examined in Hungary. Indoor and outdoor air parameters (temperature, humidity, CO, CO2 , NO2 , PM10 or PM2.5, ozone, formaldehyde, benzene, ethyl-benzene, xylols, toluene, trichloroethylene, pinene, limonene, naphthaline, and radon) were measured in the classrooms in one or the other or both projects. (In addition, in one of the projects perception of comfort, in the other one, biological pollutants, concentration and attention capacity as well as school absenteeism, while lung function measurement in both projects was also evaluated. These will be the subject of subsequent papers.) The children’s health status was assessed by questionnaires completed by the parents. Most of the measured indoor air parameters were in the normal range, however concentrations of particulates (PM10 or PM2.5, respectively), benzene, and CO2 were higher than the recommended values. In some schools inadequate floor space and in the majority of schools insufficient ventilation were the most striking shortcomings. Some data on the respiratory health of children was similar to those found in the country-wide surveys in Hungary while others were lower. Regulations with indoor air guideline values are urgently needed in Hungary and further efforts are to be done to educate wide circles of the society, to inform various actors of school design and maintenance about the health aspects of indoor air quality in order to be able to provide healthy school environment for our children.

Melléklet(ek):

Dokumentum neve	sorrend	Dátum
Rudnai - School		2021-10-08