Sick Building Syndrome

In sick building syndrome (SBS) (synonyms: Building-illness syndrome; Sickbuilding; Sickbuilding syndrome; ICD-10: T75.8 – Other specified damage due to external causes) is a clinical picture from the field of occupational and environmental medicine. It occurs as a reaction to pollution of enclosed spaces, but can also be caused by psychological factors.

In order to be able to speak of a sick building syndrome, 10-20% of the occupants or the employees in a building must show unspecific complaints. Sick building syndrome can be compared with building illness syndrome, which first appeared in America in open-plan offices. There, symptoms like those of SBS also appeared. The cause is said to be pollution of the interior due to inadequate ventilation and/or tobacco smoke, among other things.

Cases of the syndrome are observed in more than one third of all newly occupied buildings, with mucosal irritation occurring in the majority of cases.

Gender ratio: Women get sick significantly more often than men.

There are no representative epidemiological studies on sick building syndrome to date.

Course and prognosis: As soon as those affected are no longer indoors, the symptoms disappear again. Consequently, a long-term solution to the problem is to avoid the trigger or minimize the pollutants, if it is possible to locate them.