Environ Health Toxicol.
2014 ;29(1):e2014014. 10.5620/eht.e2014014.
House-plant placement for indoor air purification and health benefits on asthmatics
- Affiliations
-
- 1Institute for Environmental Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. envlim@yuhs.ac
- 2Institute of Life Science & Resources, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Korea.
- 3Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- 4National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon, Korea.
- 5Department of Environmental Engineering, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea.
- 6Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
- KMID: 2380107
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.5620/eht.e2014014
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Some plants were placed in indoor locations frequented by asthmatics in order to evaluate the quality of indoor air and examine the health benefits to asthmatics.
METHODS
The present study classified the participants into two groups: households of continuation and households of withdrawal by a quasi-experimental design. The households of continuation spent the two observation terms with indoor plants, whereas the households of withdrawal passed the former observation terms with indoor plants and went through the latter observation term without any indoor plants.
RESULTS
The household of continuation showed a continual decrease in the indoor concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the entire observation period, but the household of withdrawal performed an increase in the indoor concentrations of VOCs, except formaldehyde and toluene during the latter observation term after the decrease during the former observation term. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) increased in the households of continuation with the value of 13.9 L/min in the morning and 20.6 L/ min in the evening, but decreased in the households of withdrawal with the value of -24.7 L/min in the morning and -30.2 L/min in the evening in the first experimental season. All of the households exhibited a decrease in the value of PEFR in the second experimental season.
CONCLUSIONS
Limitations to the generalizability of findings regarding the presence of plants indoors can be seen as a more general expression of such a benefit of human-environment relations.
- Full Text Links
-
- Actions
-
Cited
- CITED
-
- Close
- Share
-
- Similar articles
-
- Study of the removal difference in indoor particulate matter and volatile organic compounds through the application of plants
- A Study on Experiments the Environmental Conditions and the Adaptation of the Human Body in the Vinyl House
- Distribution of Fungus Spores in Indoor and Outdoor Air
- Review of Internet of Things-Based Artificial Intelligence Analysis Method through Real-Time Indoor Air Quality and Health Effect Monitoring: Focusing on Indoor Air Pollution That Are Harmful to the Respiratory Organ
- Indoor Air Quality for Allergy Prevention
